Islamic State sympathiser Ahsan Cheema pleads guilty to breaching terror supervision order

A known Islamic State sympathiser with connections to some of Australia’s most high-profile jihadi identities has confessed to breaching a terrorism supervision order after he was busted in possession of drugs and a secret mobile phone.

Court documents have revealed Ahsan Cheema is dating Rose Karroum, the widow of Australian man Guy Staines, who was killed in Syria while fighting for ISIS.

A known Islamic State sympathiser with connections to some of Australia’s most high-profile jihadi identities has confessed to breaching a terrorism supervision order after he was busted in possession of drugs and a secret mobile phone.

Ahsan Cheema, a violent criminal with a rap sheet that includes a drive-by shooting, armed home invasion and threats to set his family home on fire, was placed on the two-year order in April 2022 due to concerns over his use of pro-Islamic State material on social media and his romantic relationship with Rose Karroum, the widow of Narrabri jackaroo-turned-jihadi, Guy Staines.

Court documents reveal Cheema, 40, had been subject to the order for a matter of months when detectives attached to the NSW Police’s high risk offenders compliance unit discovered 0.2g of heroin, 14 Xanax tablets and a second mobile phone during a surprise raid on his Revesby home in September last year.

Cheema was charged with two counts of possessing a prohibited drug as well as six counts of failing to comply with the conditions of his extended supervision order (ESO).

The court documents said he not only obtained the drugs, but also “self-administered” them, both acts that put him in breach of the conditions of the ESO.

The court heard Cheema was returned to custody upon his arrest and has spent the past 10 months behind bars on remand.

He pleaded guilty to each of the charges in Bankstown Local Court last week and will face sentencing next month.

Prosecutors raised concerns about Cheema’s association with then-terror accused, Tuki Lawrence, while the two were housed in Goulburn’s Supermax jail together. Photo: Supplied

Meanwhile, a Supreme Court judgment published last year paints a concerning picture of Chema’s associations with several alleged terrorism sympathisers in Australia, including Supermax prisoner Tuki Lawrence, who has pleaded guilty to terrorism offences involving plot to attack law enforcement and military personnel.

In the judgment, Justice Stephen Campbell said Cheema and Lawrence grew close while they were both inmates at Goulburn’s high risk management unit and regularly wrote letters to each other, although they did not contain any material deemed terrorism-related.

The court heard while Cheema also spent time with Islamic State supporter Ahmed Sayer Naizmand while the pair was in custody, it was his relationship with Ms Karroum after his release from prison in 2020 and their plans to marry that was of greater concern to state prosecutors as they argued for the ESO to be put in place.

The court was told before her former husband’s death in a US air strike in 2017, Ms Karroum’s sister, Amira Karroum, and brother-in-law, Tyler Casey (also known as Yousf Ali) were also killed while fighting for Islamic State in Syria in 2014.

Amira Karroum, the sister of Rose Karroum, was killed while fighting overseas for ISIS.

Amira’s husband, Yousf Ali, also known as Tyler Casey, died in the conflict as well.

Well-known Islam expert Professor Greg Barton told the court an analysis of Ms Karroum’s Facebook posts in recent years revealed she strongly supported and glorified Jihadi violent extremism and martyrdom.

Justice Campbell rejected Chema’s claims he was unaware of Ms Karroum’s beliefs.

Ms Karroum has never been charged with any terrorism or terrorism related offences and The Daily Telegraph does not suggest otherwise.

In deciding to make the ESO, Justice Campbell found Cheema posed an unacceptable risk of committing a serious terrorism offence if the order was not put in place.