Islamic State loyalist trio who torched Fawkner mosque make Australian sentencing history
Three Islamic extremists who burnt down a Fawkner mosque because of their allegiance to Islamic State will be the first people sentenced for completing a terrorist act in Australian history.
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Three Islamic extremists who burnt down a mosque because of their allegiance to Islamic State will be the first people sentenced for completing a terrorist act in Australian history.
Abdullah Chaarani, 28, Ahmed Mohamed, 26 and Hatim Moukhaiber, 30, have each been convicted of a 2016 arson attack that completely destroyed the Imam Ali Islamic Centre in Fawkner.
They were each found guilty of engaging in a terrorist act after a Supreme Court jury rejected claims the attack was a legitimate act of “advocacy, protest, dissent or industrial action”.
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At a pre-sentence hearing today Supreme Court justice Andrew Tinney said the men would be the first to ever be sentenced for committing a completed terrorist act on Australian soil.
Each of the men now face a maximum term of life imprisonment.
Both Mohamed and Moukhaiber continue to deny any involvement in the attack, and were not clearly visible on CCTV that captured the incident.
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.
At trial, prosecutors argued the men acted specifically 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.
“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.”
Mohamed’s lawyer John Kelly SC said his client had previously been married to a Shia woman.
He said despite Mohamed’s previous good character, there was no escaping the fact his client had been pictured carrying an IS flag and had IS videos on his phone at the time of his arrest.
The group was arrested on December 22, 2016, after months of surveillance by anti-terror police.
The arrest foiled another plot by Chaarani, Mohamed and two friends, Ibrahim and Hamza Abbas, 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 Fed Square, St Paul’s Cathedral and Flinders St Station.
They have yet to be sentenced for that offending.
The hearing continues.