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| Down Under |
| Nine Muslims on trial for involvement in Australian terror plot |
| 2007-05-02 |
| Nine Muslims accused of stockpiling chemicals and explosive detonators have been ordered to stand trial on charges of planning terror attacks in Sydney, Australian court officials said on Tuesday. Magistrate Michael Price on Monday ruled that the men must stand trial after they were arrested last year in Australia’s largest-ever counter-terrorism operation, a court official told AFP. “The nine men are committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court and will appear in that court on June 1,” an official said. The nine appeared in March in a magistrates court in Penrith, west of Sydney, under a heavy blanket of security to allow Price to establish if they had a case to answer. They were charged with planning terrorist strikes in Australia’s most populous city, Sydney, reportedly including the bombing of its Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. The men were arrested in Sydney in November 2005 as part of a crackdown by security services in which a total of 18 Muslims were detained here and in Melbourne. The nine suspects had allegedly been urged by an Islamic cleric, their leader, to inflict “maximum damage” in Australia for the sake of jihad. At the time of their arrest, police alleged group members had attended jihad training camps, stockpiled chemicals and detonators to make explosives and planned a “large-scale terrorist attack”. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 In some court systems (the state of New York is one, believe it or not) the "Supreme Court" is a trial level court. |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-05-02 08:16 |
| #2 The nine men are committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court They get to go straight to the top in the first round? To whom will they appeal their inevitable conviction, then? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-05-02 08:10 |
| #1 Guilty. Life sentences, just like UK. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-05-02 00:22 |