The discharge of a jury who convicted a Muslim man of writing a terrorist manual but failed to reach a verdict on a second terrorism charge has urged Australia's Muslim leaders to call for a review of anti-terrorism laws.Belal Saadallah Khazaal, 38, was convicted on Wednesday of assisting terrorism, but the jury was discharged on Thursday after failing to decide on whether he tried to incite a terrorist act. The prosecutor will now decide whether to seek a re-trial.
The guilty verdict shocked Islamic leaders, who warned anti-terrorism laws were making all Muslims potential targets for arrest and called for a review of security laws. The Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations said the conviction of Khazaal, 38, for writing a 110-page guide to terrorism failed to prove he had the intention or capability to carry out a terrorist act.
"These terror laws have specifically made every Muslim a potential target for arrest by police," Forum executive director Kuranda Seyit said in a statement. "There have been many people who have had their homes raided and their passports confiscated and this is simply unconstitutional. These laws are not keeping Australia safe but in fact terrorizing Australian Muslims."
Khazaal was convicted of knowingly making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act. The book described methods of assassination, including shooting down aircraft and booby trapping rooms.
The prosecutor told the jury during the trial that Khazaal's book was urging others to commit a terrorist act, but his defense lawyer said Khazaal was a journalist who compiled the book from material publicly available on the internet.
Australia has gradually tightened its anti-terrorism laws since the Sept. 11, 2001 airliner attacks on the United States. New laws allow police to detain and question a suspect without charge for extended periods. Many in Australia's Muslim population, which numbers around 280,000, say they have felt under siege in recent years due to tougher security laws, several terrorism cases and a community backlash against Islam.
A judge has told jurors in a trial now under way not to let prejudice cloud their judgment when deciding whether 12 Muslims were guilty of planning an attack in Melbourne.
The New South Wales state Council for Civil Liberties also called for a review of anti-terrorism laws, saying they had circumvented criminal law safeguards that ensured evidence was rigorously tested before a person was arrested and charged. "These terrorism laws allow police extreme powers to detain, question and gather evidence ... and the problem with that is you are removing the accountability measures and safeguards that are in ordinary criminal law," said council president Cameron Murphy. "The problem with the anti-terrorism powers, apart from the impact on people's human rights, is that they allow sloppy policing to occur, which means you will capture, in my view, a number of people who have done nothing wrong," he told reporters.