Alameddine gangster Masood Zakaria’s jail “torture” revealed, as legal team slam “weak” case in Hamzy murder plot

Masood Zakaria was “tortured” in a Turkish jail and now back in Australia, has to eat tuna “in a pouch” in Goulburn Supermax, his legal team have claimed.

Alleged underworld kingpin Masood Zakaria was “tortured” while in detention in Turkey and has endured “draconian” living conditions inside Goulburn Supermax jail ever since coming back to Australia, his legal team have sensationally told a court.

Zakaria has been behind bars on remand ever since being deported to Sydney from Turkey in December 2023, at which time the alleged Alameddine crime clan member was charged with conspiring to murder rival Ibrahem Hamze.

Zakaria applied for bail in the NSW District Court on those charges on Monday, during which his barrister Peter Lange gave a rare insight into the alleged gangster’s life behind bars.

Masood Zakaria has applied for bail in the NSW District Court, over charges of conspiring to murder Ibrahem Hamze. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Court documents submitted as part of the bail application detail how Zakaria is permitted a single six-minute phone call once a day, has been waiting five months for a medical visit from a nurse or doctor, and that his only source of protein is from tuna “in a pouch”.

Mr Lange said Zakaria’s experience in Goulburn Supermax has been “barely compatible with international standards”.

This was despite him claiming the case against Zakaria was “extremely weak and doomed to fail”.

“There is no reference to the applicant encouraging, let alone proposing, that Mr Hamze be harmed,” Mr Lange said.

The court heard Zakaria had fled Australia in 2021 after discovering there was a multimillion-dollar “bounty on his head”.

That discovery came in the wake of an alleged drive-by shooting at World Gym in Prospect.

During that incident, a group of men were shot at including Zakaria’s brother and Alameddine crime clan member Murat Gulasi, who was wounded but survived – however died of natural causes overseas a year later.

Zakaria told police he believed he was the intended target of the World Gym shooting when he returned, the court heard.

Zakaria was deported from Turkey to Sydney in December 2023. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Mr Lange told Justice Stephen Hanley that “times have moved on” when it came to the gang war between the rival Alameddine and Hamzy clans.

However, Prosecutor Eric Balodis said it appeared Sydney’s streets were still dangerous.

He pointed to a recent shooting on The Boulevarde at Brighton-Le-Sands on February 18, in which intelligence documents from NSW Police outlined how Zakaria’s brother Dawood was among a group of men who were shot at.

“Unfortunately things don’t appear to have quietened down as much as my friend (Mr Lange) might hope,” Mr Balodis told the court.

Mr Lange acknowledged that there would be obvious concerns about Zakaria leaving the jurisdiction if granted bail.

Ali "Ay Huncho" Younes, Masood Zakaria, Rafat Alameddine and Hamdi Alameddine.

But he said that the proposed conditions including twice daily reporting to police, wearing an electronic monitoring anklet and offering up a large surety “makes it very difficult for a person to leave unnoticed”.

Justice Hanley said like Zakaria’s legal team, he was “concerned” about the conditions inside Goulburn Supermax.

“I must say Mr Crown, they seem somewhat draconian … it seems to be punitive, quite frankly,” he said.

Justice Hanley reserved his bail decision until Tuesday.

Originally published as Alameddine gangster Masood Zakaria’s jail “torture” revealed, as legal team slam “weak” case in Hamzy murder plot