Three guilty of ISIS act of terror

Three extremist Sunni Muslims have been found guilty of terrorism for torching a Melbourne mosque.

The court was closed shortly after the verdict was returned as one of the trio, Hatim Moukhaiber said “you are dogs” to the jury. Picture: The Australian.

Three Melbourne men — including two who plotted a Christmas Day terrorist attack — have been found guilty of burning down a Shia mosque in an Islamic State-inspired act of terror.

Extremist Sunni Muslims Ahmed Mohamed, Abdullah Chaarani and Hatim Moukhaiber were found to have carried out a terror act by setting fire to the Imam Ali Islamic Centre at Fawkner in Melbourne in ­December 2016.

Mohamed, 26, and Chaarani, 28, were last year convicted of a separate terror plot that was to potentially take place in Melbourne’s CBD shortly after the ­attack on the mosque.

The trio was found guilty yesterday over the sectarian attack on the mosque, following a long-running trial in the Supreme Court in Melbourne.

After the verdict was read out, an older woman, identified as Moukhaiber’s mother, shouted to the jury: “What are you doing … you dogs.”

Moukhaiber, 30, also swore at police, whom he called “dogs”, and said the jurors were “nobodies”. Mohamed called out “bye” when the jury was discharged.

The jury had heard the three burned the mosque down on the night of December 11, 2016, after Mohamed and Chaarani tried — and failed — to set it alight the previous month.

Mohamed and Chaarani were also found guilty of an attempted terrorist act over that first bid to set fire to the mosque.

Prosecutor Nicholas Robinson QC had told the jury that CCTV from the night of the successful attack captured footage of Chaarani carrying a spray can and Mohamed carrying a white plastic container. Mohamed and Moukhaiber were each carrying a tyre as well. Mr Robinson told the jury that all three men were found with Islamic State material.

“There are strong statements as to who are the enemies of the true Islamic State Sunni religion and amongst those, of course, there’s the materials that will show Christians, Jews, but also Shia Muslims,” he said.

The court was shown photos of a man smiling and holding a severed head as well as videos of executions that were found on Mohamed’s phone.

Mohamed and Moukhaiber had denied taking part in the mosque attacks.

Lawyers for Chaarani admitted he was involved but said it was not an act of terror but a protest, an act of dissent or advocacy.

Judge Andrew Tinney will sentence the men at a later date.

Last year, Chaarani, Mohamed and another man were convicted over a Christmas Day plot that authorities believed was in the late stages of planning when they were arrested at gunpoint on December 22, 2016.

ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis last year described how close they came to carrying out the attack, with a rookie agent becoming suspicious about a group of men “forming in an unusual way” and going into a chemist late at night.

“The plan was to drive a vehicle into the square in the middle of the Christmas crowd, kill as many people as they could with the vehicle … leap out (and) attack everybody with the sharp-bladed weapons,” Mr Lewis said.

During last year’s trial, the court heard the men were in the late stages of preparations when they were arrested.

They had been recorded talking about shahada — martyrdom — and were anxious to have a suicide vest ready by Christmas Day.

CCTV footage showed them casing possible targets.

Abdullah Chaarani. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Ahmed Mohamed. Picture: Stuart McEvoy