Posted on 08/23/2006 12:00:46 AM PDT by Aussie Dasher
AN ARCHITECT has been jailed for at least 15 years after becoming the first person convicted of planning a terrorist attack on Australian soil.
Faheem Khalid Lodhi was today jailed for a maximum term of 20 years for acting in preparation for a terrorist attack. He sat quietly in the dock as Justice Anthony Whealy told the NSW Supreme Court Lodhi had intended to "advance violent giant jihad" in Australia.
Lodhi, who was born in Pakistan but has Australian citizenship, had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Justice Whealy said the attack, if carried out, "would instil terror into members of the public so that they could never again feel free from the threat of bombing attacks within Australia".
The charges had carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Lodhi, 36, was convicted of three terrorism-related charges but acquitted of a fourth charge.
He was convicted of acting in preparation for a terrorist act by seeking information about chemicals capable of making explosives.
He was also found guilty of possessing a so-called "terrorism manual" and of buying two maps of the electricity grid, connected with preparation for a terrorist act.
Prime Minister John Howard has refused to comment on the sentence, saying it was inappropriate for him to comment on judicial matters.
But he repeated his pledge to maintain and strengthen Australia's anti-terrorism laws where necessary.
"The Australian public knows how much I am opposed to terrorism. And the Australian public knows how determined I am to maintain and strengthen where necessary our anti-terrorism laws," he said.
In court today, Justice Whealy said Lodhi has been kept in segregated custody since his April 2004 arrest, except for a brief period.
He recommended prison authorities "not lose sight" of the need to reclassify Lodhi at an early stage of his prison term.
"No matter how much we may deplore and disapprove of a particular offender, no matter how repulsive we may find his or her actions we sacrifice our essential decency if we fail to treat him or her as a fellow human being," Justice Whealy said.
During the trial, prosecutors linked Lodhi, also known as Abu Hamza, to Frenchman Willie Brigitte, who was deported in late 2003 after being accused of plotting a major attack in Sydney.
Mr Brigitte, who remains in custody in France, is suspected of links to al Qaeda and both he and Lodhi are alleged to have trained with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Pakistani group that Australia has banned as a terrorist organisation.
Lodhi denied during his trial that he had any intention of launching an attack.
"This country is my country and these people are my people," he said while giving evidence in his own defence.
"The killing of innocent people is not part of Islam."
"The killing of innocent people is not part of Islam."
Define "innocent"...
aren't these people just about everywhere?
Bullshi'ite.
L
"AN ARCHITECT has been jailed for at least 15 years.."
"Lodhi, who was born in Pakistan but has Australian citizenship"
HEY! I object to this smearing of my profession! The author is deflecting his national origin and pointing out his occupation.
Lodhi obviously didn't think of himself as an Architect first!
Perhaps the liberal media should focus on the connections between bomb plot conspirators......like Jihadis come out of Muslim nations not Architecture School.
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