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Abdul Nacer Benbrika	Abdul Nacer Benbrika	Learned Elders of Islam	Down Under				20051107	Link
	Abdul Nacer Benbrika	Lashkar-e-Taiba	Down Under				20051109	Link

Down Under

Radical Melbourne imam returns to preach jihad

2012-11-05

The leader of an Islamic group recently the focus of anti-terror raids has returned from overseas to resume his hardline preaching in Melbourne. Harun Mehicevic, also known as Abu Talha, ...a common nom de jihad. We've got scads of them in the Rantburg archives... returned from Bosnia late last month and is again promoting the virtues of jihad at the Al-Furqan Islamic Information Centre in Springvale South. The Australian Federal Police raided the centre and Mehicevic's home in September during an operation that targeted 12 properties, most of them in south-east Melbourne. Mehicevic was in Bosnia at the time. As a result of the raids, Adnan Karabegovic, 23, was charged with four counts of collecting documents in preparation of a terrorist act. The raids led to the seizure of items including a computer memory stick containing "violent orc materials", as well as imitation firearms and registered guns. Speaking from a driveway, Mehicevic said he had been silent since the raids because he thought nothing could be gained from speaking while the Al-Furqan centre was being criticised. He said, "With all the hype of raids and everything, you get no benefit of talking. You wait for everything to settle down." Mehicevic is controversial within the Mohammedan community. The imam of the nearby Bosnian mosque said Mehicevic had led a group of "radical followers" away from the Noble Park mosque about 10 years ago. Another community source who also spoke of Mehicevic soon after the raids said he is not well respected in Melbourne's Islamic community. There were reports after the raids that sources said Mehicevic had come to Australia from Bosnia in the mid-1990s, and that he had a Pak-born wife and six children. He turned to Salafism and became a follower of hardline Melbourne holy man Sheikh Mohammed Omran, and associated with Abdul Nacer Benbrika, who is serving 15-years' jail for planning a terrorist attack in Melbourne in 2005. When Benbrika split from Omran, Mr Mehicevic remained loyal to the senior holy man.

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Australian Muslim admits plotting to kill thousands

2009-07-28

An Australian convert to Islam on Tuesday admitted being part of a terror cell that plotted to kill thousands of people by bombing major sports events, just moments before his retrial. Shane Kent, 33, pleaded guilty to being a member of a group led by radical Islamic cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika, who told his followers they could kill women and children in the pursuit of holy war. Kent also admitted involvement in the cell's plans for a bomb attack on sports events including the Australian Football League's (AFL) 2005 Grand Final, which attracted some 92,000 fans and a TV audience of millions. The former forklift truck driver was about to face a retrial on the charges, which he previously denied, after a Supreme Court jury last September failed to reach a verdict. Kent, wearing a grey shirt and black jacket, looked down as the charges were read and replied "guilty" to each. Six members of the cell, as well as Benbrika, were last year found guilty on related charges in Australia's largest ever terrorism trial. Benbrika was jailed for 15 years and the six followers received at least seven-and-a-half years each. Another man, Izzydeen Atik, pleaded guilty in August 2007 and was jailed for five-and-a-half years. Benbrika was so committed to violent jihad, Bongiorno said, that he had talked about continuing the group's activities behind bars if its members were jailed. They were arrested in November 2005 after Australia strengthened laws to detain those in the early stages of planning terror acts, following the London transport bombings in July that year. Jurors were told the group originally planned to attack the 2005 AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but were foiled by a series of police and secret service raids. They then decided to hit either the Melbourne stadium during AFL pre-season, or the sports-mad city's Crown casino during 2006 Grand Prix week, the jury was told. Material seized from the group included bomb-making instructions and video tapes with messages from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. While the cell had not made advanced plans for a specific target or carried out an attack, Bongiorno said they had shown no remorse, and did not appear to have renounced their beliefs. Kent was charged with intentionally being a member of a terrorist organisation and to making a document connected with the preparation of a terrorist act. According to evidence at his first trial, Kent, who converted to Islam at 19, undertook two months of paramilitary training in the use of firearms and explosives in an undisclosed country. His lawyers told the court Tuesday he was receiving psychiatric treatment for acute depression and anxiety. He will face a sentencing hearing on August 17.

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Australia gives Muslim terror cleric 15 year sentence

2009-02-03

A Muslim cleric convicted of forming a terrorist cell in Australia was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in jail, bringing the country's largest terrorism trial to a close. Six of his followers were ordered to serve between six and 10 years in prison. Prosecutors accused Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, a former aviation engineer who moved to Australia from Algeria in 1989, of urging his followers to carry out a violent attack within Australia to pressure the government to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Australia supported the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 and had combat troops there when Benbrika and his followers were arrested. According to prosecutors, Benbrika said that it would take at least 1,000 deaths to achieve his goal. The seven men were arrested in November 2005 after an undercover police operation found they were plotting to attack landmarks in their home city of Melbourne. The men were convicted last September under legislation introduced in Australia following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The Victoria State Supreme Court sentenced Benbrika to 15 years for intentionally directing the activities of a terrorist organization, seven years for intentionally being a member of a terrorist organization and five years for possessing a compact disc connected with the preparation of a terrorist act. He was the first person to be convicted of leading a terrorist group inside Australia. He was ordered to serve the terms concurrently and taking into account time served since his arrest, he will be eligible for parole in about nine years. The other six men received sentences ranging from four to eight years for their participation in the terrorist cell. Benbrika and his six followers were arrested in a series of raids in 2005 after authorities who had intercepted the men's phone calls found that they had formed a terrorist cell with the intent of pursuing violent jihad.

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One more found guilty in Australian terror trial

2008-09-16

ANOTHER man has been found guilty of being part of a Melbourne terrorist cell which plotted to kill thousands. Amer Haddara, 28, of Yarraville, was today found guilty of being a member of a terrorist organisation, knowing it was a terrorist organisation. But he was found not guilty of possessing a computer connected with preparation for a terrorist act. The jury in Australia's biggest terror trial was still unable to reach a verdict on charges against Shane Kent, 31, of Meadow Heights. Six people were yesterday found guilty of being part of the terrorist group, including its leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika.

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Aussie Muslim cleric convicted of terrorism

2008-09-16

A firebrand Muslim cleric was found guilty Monday of leading a terrorist group after Australia's largest terror trial in which 12 men were accused of plotting attacks on the country. A jury found cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika guilty on all counts, including being a leader and a member of a Melbourne terrorist cell. It also found five other men guilty of being members of the group. After a trial lasting more than seven months, a further four suspects were cleared of planning terrorist acts in Melbourne, involving the detonation of an explosive or use of weapons. The jury was unable to deliver verdicts on two other men. Benbrika showed no emotion as the jury delivered a guilty verdict on charges of intentionally directing the activities of a terrorist organization and of being a member of a terrorist organization. The jury heard that Benbrika, 48, urged his followers to target football matches or a train station and kill 1,000 people to make Australia withdraw soldiers from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had told his followers it was "permissible to kill women, children and the aged," prosecutors had told the panel. Benbrika had suggested, during taped telephone calls, a bombing where the maximum loss of life could be inflicted, prosecutor Richard Maidment told the trial. Maidment had said the case was about "a home-grown terrorist organization" and that Benbrika had urged the group to do "something big" to pressure the Australian government to pull its troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The prosecutor also said material, including literature on how to make bombs and video tapes with messages from Osama Bin Laden, were seized from the group by police. Much of this material is freely available online. But defense lawyers argued the men were not terrorists, but young men learning about Islam from a self-styled sheikh who "couldn't organize a booze-up in a brewery." Benbrika's defense lawyer, Remy Ven de Wiel, told the court Benbrika was a braggart and did nothing more than talk about jihad. "The Muslims in Australia have a sense of powerlessness and political impotence and they express themselves," Van de Wiel had told the jury. "They just blow stuff up to express their impotence!"

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Aussie terror chief 'defended religion' says counsel

2008-07-03

The alleged leader of a Melbourne terrorist cell was merely standing up for his religion when he spoke to his followers about holy war and other acts of defiance, the Victorian Supreme Court has been told. Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, of Dallas in Melbourne, is charged with directing a terrorist organisation. Along with 11 other men he is also charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation that was preparing or fostering a terrorist act. But his counsel, Remy Ven de Wiel QC, told the court Benbrika was merely a man who defended his religion. "The Muslims in Australia have a sense of powerlessness and political impotence and they express themselves," Mr Van de Wiel said. When Benbrika made various comments about holy war and of Muslims being under attack, it was "in accordance with his religion - with his belief". "He is a man who says 'I am standing up for my religion and jihad is part of my religion and I will continue talking about it," Mr Van de Wiel said. On the first day of closing defence arguments in what is Australia's biggest terror trial yet, Mr Van de Wiel told the jury the men had been under surveillance from ASIO and their phones had been tapped. In the knowledge that their conversations were being recorded, and in a reflection of the seriousness with which they took themselves, the men referred to themselves as the "A1 terrorist group". "They are laughing," he said. "They're no different to you and I - they can send up a situation." Mr Van de Wiel also accused ASIO of adopting "terrifying Nazi tactics" by raiding the men's homes in the early hours of the morning. He also asked the jury to consider the evidence of a secretly recorded conversation in which one of the accused men, Shoue Hammoud, questions Benbrika about the surveillance. "But we haven't done anything," Hammoud said in the tape played to the court. Mr Van de Wiel told the jury there was no suggestion any of the men had actually engaged in an act of terror. "There is no evidence that they have done anything," he said. Closing arguments continue Friday.

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Down Under

Australian terror jury sees blast video

2008-04-30

A jury has seen secret video of an undercover policeman setting off an explosion while the alleged leader of a Melbourne terror cell watches. The policeman, known only as Security Intelligence Officer 39, said he travelled to Mt Disappointment by car with Abdul Nacer Benbrika for the explosives demonstration. He said he had been provided with Nitroprill explosive, a stick of gelagnite and detonators by Victoria Police Special Operations Group. Operative SIO39, who gave his evidence to the Supreme Court from a secure location by audio, said that in the weeks leading up to the explosion on October 6, 2004 he had a number of conversations with Mr Benbrika and other memebers of the alleged home-grown terror cell. He was known to the group as 'Ahmet Sonmez' and he had been provided with a cover story for his meetings with members of the group. Operative SIO39 told the court he inflitrated the alleged terror group and told Mr Benbrika his job involved removing tree stumps using explosives. Under cross examination from Remy van de Wiel, QC, for Mr Benbrika, SIO39 said he was warned by Mr Benbrika to be careful where he stored his explosives. Mr Benbrika told him the homes of some of the "brothers" had been raided but SIO39 reassured him by saying the explosives were stored at his employer's premises. SIO39 said in one conversation Mr Benbrika told him he would not encourage any act of terrorism in Australia. Mr Benbrika said that this was because there was a a treaty between the Australian Government and the Australian people and those Muslims who had been given asylum here, the undercover operative told the court. The operative confirmed to Mr van de Wiel that in another conversation Mr Benbrika discussed the amount of explosives that would be needed to blow up a house. On trial before Justice Bernard Bongiorno are: Mr Benbrika of Dallas, Shane Kent, 31, Meadow Heights, Majed Raad, 23, Coburg, Abdullah Merhi, 22, Fawkner, Aimen Mr Joud, 23, Hoppers Crossing, Ahmed Raad, 24, Fawkner, Fadl Sayadi, 28, Coburg, Ezzit Raad, 26, Preston, Hany Taha, 33, Hadfield, Shoue Hammoud, 28, Hadfield, Bassam Raad, 26, Brunswick and Amer Haddara, 28, Yarraville. They face charges that include intentionally being members of a terrorist organisation involved in the fostering or preparation of a terrorist act. The trial is expected to continue tomorrow.

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Australian would-be terrorist lived the high life

2008-04-16

A would-be terrorist who conversed with birds also lived in a luxury three-storey beachfront home, drove a BMW, had a carer and a butler, regularly called telephone sex lines and masqueraded as a high-rolling gambler, a Melbourne court heard today. Izzydeen Atik, 28, also claimed to be a "good Muslim" who wanted to join a Melbourne terrorist organisation which, he said, had plans to bomb the MCG on AFL grand final day. A Victorian Supreme Court jury heard Atik hadn't done a day's work in six years when he moved into a beachfront villa at Williamstown in Melbourne's south-west in 2005, funding his lifestyle through credit card fraud. He told the court he occupied the palatial home by himself, except for his brother, who fraudulently collected a carer's pension from Centrelink in return for looking after him, and the butler who ultimately replaced the brother. Atik is a key prosecution witness in the trial of 12 men who have pleaded not guilty in Australia's largest-ever terror trial. Having told the court yesterday of the group's intended targets, including the MCG and Crown Casino, Atik repeatedly claimed memory loss today when cross-examined about psychological treatment he had received over several years in Sydney. Defence counsel Remy Van de Wiel, QC, told the court Atik had a history of hearing voices in his head and had claimed to communicate with birds. But under cross-examination today, he told the jury he had no recollection of the voice he knew as "Andrew" or of an imaginary female he described to doctors as a "devil". The court heard, however, that Atik had given evidence in court proceedings last year of his encounters with "Andrew". Mr Van de Wiel, counsel for alleged terror group leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika, read to the court from a 2002 psychiatric report in which Atik claimed birds often told him their problems. "If you spend a day with me you will see the birds follow me and talk to me," Atik allegedly told the psychiatrist who compiled the report. The court also heard Atik had moved away from his family in Sydney after problems arose between him and relatives over his desire to marry his 16-year-old cousin. Soon after arriving in Melbourne in 2003, he accompanied another cousin on a pilgrimage to Mecca, returning to Australia a "changed man" intent on rejecting a criminal past that included several convictions for credit card fraud. But after meeting one of the alleged terror cell members at his local mosque, Atik was asked to use his experience to fund their plans for violent jihad. After receiving an assurance in the form of a "fatwah" from Benbrika that stealing from non-believers was permitted by Islam, he resumed the credit card racket using the proceeds to fund the terror group and maintain his extravagant lifestyle. He told the court he paid taxi drivers to provide him with credit card details obtained from their passengers which he then used to buy hundreds of airline tickets and mobile phone SIM cards. The airline tickets were then sold to friends and acquaintances who paid $100 for an economy class return ticket to anywhere in Australia and $200 for business class. The jury also heard a secretly-recorded telephone call Atik made to a sex chat line in which he offered to fly the woman at the other end of the line to Melbourne to "make me happy".

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Australian AFL Grand Final 'massacre planned'

2008-04-15

* Bombing planned for 2005 AFL grand final * Plan axed after police, ASIO raids * Bombing difficult after September 11, said leader THE 2005 AFL Grand Final was the original bombing target of an alleged home-grown terror cell by the man described as its leader or "sheik", a court has been told. A jury in the supreme Court in Victoria was told today that in conversation with a witness at the terror trial, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, said the MCG bombing had been cancelled because of police and ASIO raids on members of the group in July 2005. Izzydeen Atik told the Supreme Court that Mr Benbrika nominated two other targets, the NAB Cup and Crown Casino during the 2006 Melbourne Grand Prix weekend. Mr Atik, 27, has admitted he had discussions about bombings with Mr Benbrika as a follow up to two earlier secretly taped conversations heard by the jury today. While they were driving together Mr Atik said they had a conversation about terrorist attacks. "The original target was supposed to be the Grand Final of 2005," Mr Atik said he was told by Mr Benbrika. Mr Atik said Mr Benbrika told him the raids on group members had disrupted funding. On trial before Justice Bernard Bongiorno are: Mr Benbrika of Dallas, Shane Kent, 31, Meadow Heights, Majed Raad, 23, Coburg, Abdullah Merhi, 22, Fawkner, Mr Joud, 23, Hoppers Crossing, Ahmed Raad, 24, Fawkner, Fadl Sayadi, 28, Coburg, Ezzit Raad, 26, Preston, Hany Taha, 33, Hadfield, Shoue Hammoud, 28, Hadfield, Bassam Raad, 26, Brunswick and Amer Haddara, 28, Yarraville. The jury was played two bugged conversations in Mr Benbrika's Dallas home on March 4, 2005 between him and Mr Atik. In the conversations Mr Benbrika talks of members of the group being under surveillance and their phones being bugged. At one point Mr Benbrika says to Mr Atik "we'll damage buildings. Blast things." Mr Benbrika continues: "It has to be proper because it's very difficult to get them. I mean, especially the product. After 11 September it's not easy." The trial continues.

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Ruling today on Aussie terror trial

2008-03-30

Twelve men accused of terrorism will find out today whether their trial will stop and whether they will be able to apply for bail as a result of being kept in what a Supreme Court judge calls intolerable conditions. The secretary of the Department of Justice has been told by Justice Bernard Bongiorno to respond in an affidavit by noon today to demands the judge has made about improving the men's jail conditions and the way they are transported to court. Justice Bongiorno rejected Crown arguments that the problems could be solved by moving the trial to Geelong or by allowing the men to watch the trial by audio-visual link from Barwon Prison. The 12 Muslim men, including alleged leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika, have already spent two years in the high-security Acacia Unit at Barwon Prison near Lara. Their trial began on 13 February and soon afterwards defence lawyers applied to have it "stayed", arguing that the men could not get a fair hearing because of their "oppressive" jail and travelling conditions. Jim Kennan, SC, said the conditions reduced the men's physical and mental ability to follow the evidence and instruct their lawyers. All the men have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which involve the alleged fostering of a terrorist act in pursuit of violent jihad. Dr Douglas Bell, a forensic psychiatrist, told the court Acacia had an austere and restrictive regime that could cause an ordinary person to experience significant psychological and emotional difficulty, affect the ability to concentrate and perhaps trigger serious psychiatric problems. The men's travel arrangements would add to this, he said. On court days the men are strip-searched and shackled before their 80-minute trips to and from Melbourne. Two of the men were recently moved from Barwon Prison and found by psychiatrists to be too ill to attend court at that time. Also: Talk of terror and Profiles of the accused

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Ease up on terror accused - Aussie judge

2008-03-20

The 12 defendants in Australia's largest terrorism prosecution are not getting a fair trial, the judge overseeing the case has admitted. The startling claim admission came as Justice Bernard Bongiorno said the conditions under which the accused are being held are so severe they could cause mental illness and jeopardise their ability to defend themselves. In a ruling he described as "extraordinary'', Justice Bongiorno ordered the men be moved to a new prison and called for their conditions to be upgraded. The 12 accused went on trial in Melbourne last month charged with being members of a terrorist organisation and other terror-related offences. The trial is expected to continue until at least the end of the year, but Justice Bongiorno ordered it not resume until the men's conditions are improved. He warned if their conditions were not improved, he would consider releasing them on bail. Justice Bongiorno ordered the sweeping changes after hearing medical evidence from four psychiatrists supporting the men's claims that they could not get a fair trial if the severe conditions of their incarceration continued. "I am satisfied that the evidence before the court establishes that the accused in this case are currently being subjected to an unfair trial,'' Justice Bongiorno said. But he added they had not been disadvantaged so far, saying the impact of the conditions would be cumulative. It is the first time a Victorian judge has ordered that conditions for prisoners be changed. In his ruling, Justice Bongiorno accepted the 12 men were already suffering psychiatric problems that had affected their ability to follow proceedings. A continuation of the treatment was likely to affect their ability to defend themselves, he said. The men have been held in the high security Acacia wing of Barwon Prison, near Geelong, since their arrest two years ago. To attend court they must travel for up to two hours to Melbourne each day, and two hours back, shackled and handcuffed in small compartments in a prison van. They are strip-searched when they leave Barwon and again when they return and have little time outside their cells. The poor dears! What will Justice Bongiorno say when, after having not been searched adequately, one of the prisoners buries a shank into the back of a guard? Justice Bongiorno ordered the men be transferred from Barwon to the Metropolitan Assessment Prison in central Melbourne, that they be transported directly from there to court each day and that they be allowed out of their cells for 10 hours each day when not in court. The judge also ordered that they not be shackled or subjected to any other restraining devices other than ordinary handcuffs while being transported. He said they should not be strip-searched after returning from court and that they be treated as ordinary remand prisoners. The men are currently classified under the highest security rating of any prisoners in Victoria. There's generally a reason why prisoners are classified as 'highest security rating'. Perhaps the good justice would be happy to assume personal responsibility for their transport? Justice Bongiorno also ordered that Victoria's Department of Justice make the changes he ordered by March 31 or the trial would be stayed indefinitely and he would consider releasing the men on bail. "Removal of the source of unfairness in this trial requires either that the accused's conditions of incarceration be drastically altered or that they be released on bail,'' he said. The trial has been told the 12 intended to undertake "violent jihad'' in Australia and had formed a terror cell. They had discussed killing then prime minister John Howard, the court heard, and had identified railway stations and football grounds as likely targets. The accused, who have all pleaded not guilty are: Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 47; Abdullah Merhi, 22; Shane Kent, 31; Majed Raad, 23; Aimen Joud, 23; Ahmed Raad, 24; Fadl Sayadi, 28; Ezzit Raad, 26; Hany Taha; Shoue Hammoud, 28; Bassam Raad, 26; and Amer Haddara, 28. Not a Nigel, Bruce or Christopher among them.

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Australian Muslim leader not a terrorist, says lawyer

2008-02-28

The Muslim spiritual leader of a group of men charged with planning violent jihad in Australia, was not a terrorist and was not plotting to kill former Prime Minister John Howard, his lawyer told a court on Wednesday. Australia’s biggest terrorism trial has heard that 12 Muslim men, including spiritual leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika, had talked about staging a bombing attack that would force Australia to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Australia has about 550 combat troops in Iraq, which it plans to withdraw by about the middle of 2008. Australia also has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan. Benbrika, 47, who praised al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a “great man”, told the group that Australia was a land at war and jihad was justified, the prosecutor has told the court. “He is a man who is not a terrorist,” defence lawyer Remy van de Wiel said on Wednesday in opening his case, reported Australian Associated Press from the court. He said the group was not a terrorist organisation, it did not have weapons, explosives or ammunition and did not have a plot to kill Howard. The prosecutor said police raids on the men’s homes had found literature on how to make bombs and video tapes with messages from Osama bin Laden and showing beheadings.

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