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| Down Under |
| Australian Muslim leader |
| 2008-02-27 |
| 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," defense 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 organization, 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. The prosecutor said one of the men received paramilitary training which included demolitions using explosives at an overseas camp in 2001. The prosecutor has said one of the men, Abdullah Merhi, raised the idea of killing Howard in a September 2004 conversation with Benbrika. But Benbrika's defense lawyer dismissed the comments, saying "they are no different to what trade unionists said about John Howard." He said the secretly taped conversations between Benbrika, a deeply religious man, and the men reflected their frustrations at the treatment of "his people" in the Middle East. The prosecutor has said Benbrika justified jihad in Australia with the Koran, but his lawyer said the Bible and Koran had similar teachings, citing Bible quotes like the "fanatical destruction of whole cities" and a "fanatical, vengeful God." In reference to Benbrika's criticism of the United States and Australia, his lawyer asked the jury to consider the "evil" the United States had done. He also urged the jury to listen carefully to tapes of secretly recorded conversations between Benbrika and the men and determine what the men really said, rather than the prosecution's interpretation. "What did they do ... what did they plan to do?" he asked, adding the jury should find that they did nothing and had not planned to do anything. The 12 charged are: Abdul Nacer Benbrika, Fadl Sayadi, Ahmed Raad, Aimen Joud, Abdullah Merhi, Amer Haddara, Shane Kent, Majed Raad, Hany Taha, Shoue Hammoud, Bassam Raad and Ezzit Raad. The men face charges of being members of an unnamed terrorist organisation and planning to use explosives or weapons for an undisclosed terrorist act, with the intention of coercing a government or intimidating the public. All pleaded not guilty. The trial, in its third week, is expected to last nine months. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #2 When they put them all in prison for many years, I hope their attorney advises them that they are not really in prison, that instead it is a disciplined religious retreat. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-02-27 15:59 |
| #1 I'll bet Benbrika et. al. think they're pious. Others may differ, but they don't seem to get in the way all that often. |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-02-27 14:22 |