The terror trial of five Muslims plotting to carry out a terrorist attack in Sydney face trial with stockpiled weapons and explosives begins.
Posted on 10/15/2009 9:27:20 PM PDT by myknowledge
This was a case like no other. Not only was it the longest criminal trial in Australian legal history, it was conducted under the tightest security and was almost derailed by one young woman.
Each morning, the prison van would arrive at the court in a convoy under police escort. A busy Parramatta street was closed for a few minutes while the prison van sped down a steep driveway flanked by Extreme High Security Corrective Services Officers wearing flak jackets and armed with semi-automatic weapons.
Inside, there was the usual baggage screening in the foyer, but up on Level Three it was a different story.
Everyone who entered the court was required to show sheriff officers two forms of identification and the contents of any bags they were carrying. Mobile phones could not be taken inside the courtroom.
The jury selection was a logistical exercise in itself. A total of 5,000 potential jurors were called up, and in a week-long exercise they were whittled down to 15.
The judge, Justice Anthony Whealy, was painstaking in instructing jurors that religion, specifically Islam, was not on trial here.
Throughout the trial, the jurors were incredibly attentive. In the end, only 12 would decide on a verdict but it made little difference to these individuals. The law had been changed to protect major and long-running trials like this one.
The empanelling of 15 jurors ensured the trial would not be jeopardised if one or more of the jurors had to stand down. In the final months, three jurors were excused from the trial, leaving 12 in the last weeks of the case.
If there had been more than 12 jurors left at the end of the judge's summing up, it would have been up to Justice Whealy's associate to draw a ballot of the final 12 who would deliver a verdict.
Imagine spending more than 10 months of your life listening and digesting all the evidence in the trial and not having a seat at the table deliberating the guilt or innocence of the five accused. Perhaps it would be a relief.
When I was asked to cover this trial for the ABC in 2008, I was struck by the fact the five accused had been in custody since late 2005 without trial, or three years in jail without then ever having been convicted of a crime. It's now almost four years.
There was nine months of legal argument before this trial began. A raft of applications by the Crown and the defence meant Justice Whealy had to deliver 65 judgments before a jury was empanelled.
The pre-trial judgments included a raft of non-publication and suppression orders that would prove a minefield for any journalist charged with covering the trial.
Defying or being ignorant of these orders came with a real prospect of aborting one of the most expensive trials in New South Wales, not to mention contempt proceedings.
But it wasn't journalists that proved to be the worry. It was the revelation that a young woman who had been coming to court had been following the jurors to their cars and allegedly taking down detailed descriptions.
The defence called for the jury to be dismissed and the trial aborted.
The jurors were asked whether the young woman's surveillance would affect their deliberations. They said no and the judge gave the green light for the trial to continue.
The young woman was a relative of one of the accused. She told police she had acted entirely on her own.
The woman was not allowed to return to the trial and, funnily enough, I missed her friendly smile each morning as we both tried to get a good spot in the court to gauge the reactions of the five accused as they listened to the evidence.
I had been sitting next to her.
In an ideal reporter's world, I would have loved to have found out more about the five men on trial. My approaches to each of their lawyers were politely declined, however I was assured my request had been passed on to each of the men.
Not long afterwards, I was at the front of the court to request photographs of the men for the ABC's coverage of the verdict and I was met with big smiles from each of the accused as they waited in the dock to be taken down to the cells.
One of their sisters told me her brother came from a good family and that they felt under siege. She told me her family had a deep mistrust of the media and that she hoped the truth would prevail.
The terror trial of five Muslims plotting to carry out a terrorist attack in Sydney face trial with stockpiled weapons and explosives begins.
“The young woman was a relative of one of the accused...”
“...I missed her friendly smile each morning...”
“I was at the front of the court...and I was met with big smiles from each of the accused as they waited in the dock to be taken down to the cells.”
Every Arab I’ve ever worked with seems to have had a split personality. They could state two entirely contradictory statements and believe both. That is remarkable.
The behavior of the people above, seemingly friendly, is meant to hide true intentions and disarm others of suspicion, I’m sure of that.
I worked in engineering offices in the past. Many of my coworkers were Iranian, Lebanese, Syrian, and Saudi. It was very difficult for me working with Arab Muslims as their hostility was palpable.
After jailing the guilty, the Australian government should deport the convict's support group, ie. their families.
"She told me her family had a deep mistrust of the media and that she hoped the truth would prevail"
Yes, the Muslim fascists do not like the light of day. They prefer scurrying around in the dark, unidentified cowards, in the darkness beyond the media's view, where they can gently and silently slip in the knife.
I do not buy the human interst aspect of a group of terorists who would have destroyed hundreds if not thousands of Australian lives.
And this "woman" was sketching the terrorists , so they might be published in mulim martyr magazines.SICKO!
http://adcnd.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html
Terror accused refuse to stand for judge
NINE Sydney men who pleaded not guilty to conspiring to plan a terrorist bombing in Australia refused to stand before the bench when they appeared in court today.
The men, all of whom were arrested in an anti-terrorism sweep in November last year, are now likely to face a year-long trial beginning in February.
Omar Baladjam, Khaled Cheikho, Moustafa Cheikho, Mohamed Elomar, Abdul Rakib Hasan, Mohammad Omar Jamal, Mirsad Mulahalilovic, Khaled Sharrouf and Mazen Touma appeared before NSW Supreme Court judge Anthony Whealy today and pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring to plan a terrorist act.
The men broke with convention and did not stand before the judge as the charges against them were read out and their pleas received, with lawyer Adam Houda saying religious observances prevented them from doing so.
“The accused have a problem with standing up,” Mr Houda said, and added the men intended no disrespect to the court.
All of the nine wore beards and five wore traditional muslim islamic attire.
The chatted among themselves, and as they were led away from court some of them exchanged chants of “Allahuakbar” or “God is great” with their friends and supporters in the public gallery.
One of the men, Omar Baldajam, a former actor, sat with his arm in a sling. He was hospitalised during an alleged shoot-out with police during his arrest.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8309987.stm
Security officials carry out raids in Sydney in 2005
Five men have been found guilty in Sydney, Australia, of conspiring to commit terrorist attacks.
A jury deliberated for 23 days before convicting them on charges including possessing chemicals for explosives and instructions to make bombs.
The maximum sentence for the offences is life in prison.
Prosecutors said the men were arrested in raids on their homes in 2005 and planned to commit violence to alter Australia’s policy on the Middle East.
There were angry scenes outside the specially designed court in Parramatta as supporters of the convicted men scuffled with members of the press.
Paramilitary camp
The trial began in November 2008 and lasted more than 170 days.
Prosecutor Richard Maidment told the jury the defendants were planning to commit “extreme violence” to try to change Australian foreign policy.
Mr Maidment had said: “They were motivated to pursue what they probably saw as a religious cause, that is that of jihad.”
The specific targets of attack were not revealed.
The names of the man cannot be given for legal reasons.
They showed little emotion on hearing the verdict and were remanded in custody to reappear on 14 December.
The raids on the homes yielded terror-related material, prosecutors said.
The BBC’s Nick Bryant in Sydney says the men were arrested four years ago, following tip offs from hardware store and gun shop owners, whose suspicions were raised when the men started to order unusually high amounts of chemicals and guns.
Prosecutors said one defendant had attended a training camp in Pakistan of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group and had set up a paramilitary style camp in rural New South Wales to train three of the other men.
Justice Anthony Whealy praised the jury for their diligence and integrity.
two of them....
A total of 5,000 potential jurors were called up, and in a week-long exercise they were whittled down to 15.
It is INSANE to equate WAR with CRIME, people.
Maybe he's one of those fake christians.
I am sure that we have Trial Lawyers in this country that would like to see this in the USA.
from your second link
***************************EXCERPT*************************
Five men have been found guilty in Sydney, Australia, of conspiring to commit terrorist attacks.
A jury deliberated for 23 days before convicting them unanimously on charges including possessing bomb-making instructions and explosives chemicals.
The maximum sentence for the offences is life in prison.
Prosecutors said the men were arrested in raids on their homes in 2005 and planned to commit violence to alter Australia's policy on the Middle East.
There were angry scenes outside the specially designed court in Parramatta as supporters of the convicted men scuffled with members of the press.
A brother of one of the men, who was protesting outside the court, told AFP he did not think imprisoning the group would stop terror attacks.
"I think it will increase the threat on Australia," he said.
Five found guilty of Sydney terror plot
And:
Five men convicted of plotting terror attack in Australia [plotted mass attack]
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