Accused terror planner Hamza Abbas not a jihadi ‘just a good Muslim’, his lawyer says
A LAWYER for the reclusive idiot brother of a Melbourne terror plotter says he there is no evidence to suggest he has a dedication to radical Islam.
Law & Order
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THE idiot brother of a Melbourne terror plotter is not a jihadi he’s “just a good Muslim”, a court has heard.
Hamza Abbas, 23, his cousin Abdullah Chaarani, 27, and Ahmed Mohamed, 25, are on trial in the Supreme Court charged with planning a terrorist act.
In her closing address to the jury today Felicity Gerry QC, for Abbas, described her client as a reclusive idiot.
MORE COVERAGE OF THE TERROR TRIAL:
‘FISH BRAIN’ TERROR ACCUSED STRUGGLED TO BUY MILK: COURT
TERRORIST ACCUSED GOADED POLICE, COURT TOLD
IBRAHIM ABBAS PROUD OF ‘TERRORIST’ LABEL
“We suggest there is no evidence of a passionate interest or dedication to radical Islam,” she said.
Abbas’s brother Ibrahim has already pleaded guilty to an identical charge, telling the court he hoped to kill scores of innocent Victorians in a large scale terror attack.
During more than a week on the witness stand Ibrahim told the jury he was the architect of the terror plot, comparing himself to Jesus and his co-accused to his disciples.
He said he planned to strap a suicide vest on his brother to make him a martyr.
Ms Gerry said Ibrahim’s admissions didn’t make his brother guilty by association.
She compared the brothers to the Bible’s Cain and Abel, one a hardworking farmer, the other his brother’s killer.
She also compared the brothers’ relationship to that of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott with his sister Christine Forster because of their differing views on same sex marriage.
“Common sense dictates that brothers do not always agree,” she said.
Hamza “is simply not a jihadi, he’s just a good Muslim. There is nothing incriminating about association,” she said.
Ms Gerry was the first of the three defence counsel to begin addressing the jury after Crown prosecutor Nick Papas QC closed the case.
He said it was obvious that the three accused wanted to “wage violent jihad” against non-believers.
Their plans were well and truly on foot by late October 2016 and in the following two months they bought bomb-making materials and machetes and scouted CBD locations, he said.
Mr Papas said the evidence proved Ibrahim was not a leader, but a co-conspirator in a plan to “wage violent jihad against those they believed to be disbelievers”.
He replayed CCTV of the foursome meeting at Federation Square days before their alleged attack was to take place.
An extremist video found on Chaarani’s phone showed pictures of Federation Square, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Yarra River and called for watchers to “come to martyrdom”.
Mohamed and Chaarani are accused of working on plans from October 2016, when it’s alleged Mohamed saved a link to the al-Qaeda magazine article “How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom”.
It’s alleged Hamza became involved from December, but did so with full knowledge of the sourcing of materials and other preparations.
The group were arrested on December 22, 2016 after authorities became concerned that an attack was imminent.
“My goals were to cause as much chaos, destruction, fear, bloodshed, that was my goal,” Ibrahim later told police.
Abbas said Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, as times of significance to Australians, had been considered as possible days to launch an attack.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.
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