Between 2005 and 2006, ASIO (Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation) identified a plot to mount a major terrorist strike on Australian soil.
9 men were arrested, 4 pleaded guilty to lesser offences and the other 5 were found guilty and sentenced today to 23 to 28 years in prison in the biggest terrorism trial yet seen in this country.
They were all Australian Muslims, found guilty on the evidence of stockpiling chemicals and weapons, and were in possession of a mass of propagandist paraphernalia, including videos of ritual executions. When sentenced, they all smiled.
I should point out that the Australian Muslim community in general denounces terrorism in all forms and actively works with police and moderating influences. These men were the exception and not representative of the vast majority of Muslims.
The trial went for 10 months. The court heard the five jihadists wanted to terrify and intimidate the Australian public and Government in retaliation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Australia is a close ally of the United States.
Never revealed was the target. It's not totally clear whether this is because one had not been decided, or it has been deemed better that it not be revealed. Either way the prosecution did not reveal it, which I find curious. The jury heard from 300 witnesses, examined 3,000 exhibits, watched 30 days of surveillance tapes and listened to 18 hours of phone intercepts.
The ringleader had stored enough ammunition to keep firing for 37 hours.
Very good news that these men were caught in time and will now be out of circulation for a good few years. The ASIO may well have spared Australia a horror like that of New York, Beslan, Madrid, London, Bali, Mumbai.....
ReplyDeleteHi Infidel753,
ReplyDeleteYes it has to be viewed that way. I can think of what the likely targets might have been, but I think it didn't assist the prosecution to have to detail it. If it were not for the total contempt and commitment to kill evident in the suspects' demeanor, and the material fact of the preparations, I would have said the case was open to doubt, because they were effectively convicted of intent to do something unspecified, which in legal terms is a bit vague.
We actually lost 88 of our people in the Bali bombing, and our relations with Indonesia have never been exactly smooth. That event is still very raw for us.
I have a couple of friends who had been in that night club in Bali a month before it was blown up. Scary stuff. My sympathies for so many of your lost countrymen, amigo.
ReplyDeleteThanks JBW
ReplyDelete