‘Dogs’: terrorist taunts jury as three jailed over terrorist mosque arson attack
One of three men jailed over a terrorist attack on a Melbourne mosque has taunted jurors as he was sentenced, as it’s revealed his co-accused have been convicted of an earlier, potentially deadly terror plot.
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A pair of homegrown terrorist wannabes who planned to kill scores of innocent Victorians in a devastating attack have been convicted of more terrorism offences.
The Supreme Court descended into chaos on Thursday as the verdicts were delivered, with abuse and taunts shouted at the jury from the public gallery.
Abdullah Chaarani, 28, and Ahmed Mohamed, 26, were on Thursday convicted over an arson attack that completely destroyed a Melbourne mosque.
They were each found guilty of engaging in a terrorist act and a further count of attempting to engage in a terrorist act over a failed plot before the 2016 attack at the Imam Ali Islamic Centre in Fawkner.
A third man, 30-year-old Hatim Moukhaiber, was also convicted of engaging in a terrorist act over the same fire.
Proceedings were halted after Moukhaiber’s mum began shouting from the body of the public gallery as the jury convicted her son.
She was removed from court, prompting an angry outburst from Moukhaiber. who punched the dock, abused police, and yelled that he was the victim of Islamic oppression.
Calls by Justice Andrew Tinney for order in the court went ignored, prompting him to stand down for a short period.
Earlier in the trial, which lasted more than a month, jurors had complained of feeling intimidated by a relative of one of the men.
The fresh verdicts mean it can now be revealed that criminal duo Chaarani and Mohamed torched the mosque while they were plotting to stage a devastating attack in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD.
The pair, alongside brothers Ibrahim and Hamza Abbas, plotted an attack at Federation Square they hoped would see scores of innocent Victorians slaughtered as payback for Australia’s war on Islamic State.
They are currently on remand awaiting sentence after being found guilty of plotting that evil act in the same court last year.
In their latest trial prosecutors argued the three convicted men destroyed the Fawkner mosque to advance the cause of extreme ideology of Islamic State.
They argued the men, who were followers of Sunni Islam, wanted to intimidate the Shia community who largely attended the mosque.
“Those who attacked the mosque and destroyed it were branding it as an action supported by and in favour of Islamic State,” prosecutor Nicolas Robinson, QC, argued.
“Islamic State’s ideology, in particular, finds that Shia are enemy, because they are said to be apostates, that is, they’re said to have had the chance of following the true Sunni Islam that have turned their back on it.”
“What was done was destruction to intimidate, to create fear and in our society.”
Chaarani admitted destroying the mosque but had tried to argue it was not an act of terror because Victorian legislation provided for legitimate acts of “advocacy, protest, dissent or industrial action”.
But even if the jury accepted that, they were able to find him guilty if they believed his actions intended to cause death, endanger a person’s life, or create a serious risk to public health and safety.
Both Mohamed and Moukhaiber denied any involvement, and were not clearly visible on CCTV that captured the attack.
The group was arrested on December 22, 2016, after months of surveillance by anti-terror police.
The arrest foiled the plot by Chaarani, Mohamed and the Abbas brothers, in which they planned to use machetes to kill members of the public before detonating suicide vests.
The men purchased chemicals, explosive substances, and other components to make a bomb, bought bladed weapons and conducted reconnaissance in the CBD around Federation Square, St Paul’s Cathedral and Flinders St Station.
They had tried making homemade bombs with materials bought from Bunnings and Chemist Warehouse and tested their handiwork during a series of trips to country Victoria.
Mohamed, Chaarani and Moukhaiber will return to court on Monday for a pre-sentence hearing.