Islamic terrorist Ibrahim Ghazzawy fights for reduced jail sentence
Extremist Ibrahim Ghazzawy — who helped plan a foiled terror plot in Sydney — has “snapped” in prison, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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A “violent jihad” extremist who helped plan a foiled terror plot in Sydney has “snapped” inside Goulburn Supermax, a court has heard.
Ibrahim Ghazzawy, 25, was jailed for eight years and six months in May 2017 after pleading guilty to knowingly making a document to facilitate a terrorist act.
He was one of six men part of the Khalid Group, who planned to form an army at a Blue Mountains base before waging war on police and government buildings.
Ghazzawy’s solicitor appeared for his client in the Supreme Court on Monday for a hearing after he was granted permission to appeal his sentence earlier this month.
Troy Anderson told the court it was not fair his client was given a 15 per cent sentencing discount after pleading guilty eight weeks before his trial.
“His co-offenders were offered a 10 per cent discount if they pleaded guilty on day one of the trial. His discount should be substantially greater than the co accused,” Mr Anderson said.
Ghazzawy’s prison conduct “has not been perfect”, according to court documents, with a psychological report from April stating: “The applicant is prepared to act aggressively towards prison officers, and that he did so at the instigation or direction of another prisoner”.
And he has not completed the PRISM deradicalisation program.
Mr Anderson said his client was not in a position to consider doing the program up until April this year, according to the prison psychologist.
His client “snapped to some degree” in Supermax.
“This is a man who has been in custody since he was 20 yrs old. He is held in the harshest prison conditions this state knows. He’s held in isolation for the majority of the day,” Mr Andrew said.
The re-sentencing decision will be handed down later this month. As it stands, he is eligible for parole in April, 2022.
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Ghazzawy believed in Wahhabi-Salafism, the same religion that inspires ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Court evidence shows he contributed to “the AFP building”, “the Gorilla Warfare” and the “Lithgow Jail’ document.
“The plan is gorilla (sic) warfare (illegible) we are going to go to the woods and attack the dogs there, Blue Mountains and the surrounding forests,” the note said.
Another said: “If we are gna (sic) do the Istishadi the AFP building is a good target, its in parra or the city,” the note said.
Istishadi is an Arabic word for heroic death.