Friend of accused IS member Joseph Saadieh has firearms prohibition order removed

A Western Sydney man who was friends with someone on a terror charge, will be allowed to possess firearms after a tribunal heard police fears he was a “desirable target”.

A university friend of a terror suspect has won the right to possess a gun, with a tribunal rejecting police fears he “endorsed” the brutal Islamic State.

Mohammed Ferkh had his firearms licence revoked when New South Wales Police slapped him with a firearms prohibition order after he was linked to Joseph Saadieh, a 26-year-old awaiting trial on single count of being a member of a terrorist organisation, according to the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

The pair met at Western Sydney University where Mr Ferkh found him to be “very nice and humble” – but also gullible and easily influenced by extremism.

Mr Ferkh said he was only trying to deradicalise Saadieh and sought a review of the firearms order at NCAT.

Joseph Saadieh will face trial next year at the Parramatta District Court.

Saadieh spoke about Islamic State the first time they met, causing Mr Ferkh to warn him not to do so, and later expressed extremist ideology in public “in an aggressive manner”.

This caused alarm in the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA), of which Mr Ferkh was president, and Saadieh was banned from MSA events.

In his evidence to the tribunal, Mr Ferkh said he believed he “prevented Saadieh from carrying out a terrorist attack”.

NCAT Senior Member Naida Isenberg said Mr Ferkh believed he owed Saadieh a “duty of care”.

“ … by offering emotional support rather than ostracising him, which could, he said, have potentially made Saadieh develop stronger feelings of hatred and enmity towards nonbelievers and could have motivated him to attempt an attack,” Ms Isenberg said.

“[Mr Ferkh] said he wanted [the university] to give Saadieh a chance and he would help him in getting rid of this mindset. He said that he and Saadieh would contact each other every now and then and would sometimes eat out together but they were not close,” she said.

Police alleged Mohammed Ferkh endorsed Islamic State ideology.

“Sometimes he would try to reason with Saadieh to reduce his extremist approach … He said that before Saadieh was arrested he could see that Saadieh may have had views supportive of IS, but he did not know that Saadieh had pledged allegiance to IS, as is alleged.”

In his evidence to the tribunal, Detective Chief Inspector John Walke, the officer-in-charge of the High Risk Terrorist Offenders Unit, said Mr Ferkh would be a “desirable target” for his knowledge of firearms.

“DCI Walke deposed that it is advantageous to high-risk groups to have access to a ‘cleanskin’, particularly if they hold a firearms licence and therefore can legally acquire firearms, as it can facilitate criminal activity without alerting law enforcement,” Ms Isenberg said.

Mr Ferkh met Saadieh at Western Sydney University.

Police alleged Saadieh called Mr Ferkh “a good brother” and “on the borderline” – which counter terror investigators believed to be “close to or is considering pledging allegiance to IS”.

Police submitted to the tribunal Mr Ferkh “endorses IS ideology” and his decision to engage with him “reckless”.

Ms Isenberg said there was no evidence Mr Ferkh possessed extremist material and his past contact with Saadieh was to “deradicalise” him.

“I accept that [Mr Ferkh’s] reactions to extremist material do not represent support for that ideology, especially given his position in the community … Further, I do not accept that [he] might again seek out or maintain associations with people he knows to harbour extremist views and thereby continue to expose himself to extremist material.”

The tribunal found he was fit to possess firearms and a prohibition order was unwarranted.

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