Federation Square terror plotter Ali Khalif Shire Ali has sentence increased after prosecutors appeal

abc ^ | 12/18/2020 | Kristian Silva

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A man who planned to shoot revellers on New Year's Eve in Melbourne's Federation Square has had his jail sentence increased to 16 years by Victoria's Court of Appeal.

In May, Ali Khalif Shire Ali was jailed for 10 years over the botched 2017 terror plan, which Court of Appeal justice Mark Weinberg said was intended to "inflict mass casualties on random members of the public".

Justice Weinberg, along with justices Chris Maxwell and Stephen McLeigh ruled the May decision was "manifestly inadequate".

Justice Weinberg said the decision to increase the sentence to 16 years, with a non-parole period of 12 years, was more appropriate to denounce the offending and deter others.

"It cannot be doubted that the terrorist act for which the respondent planned and prepared was of the most terrible kind," he said.

"An additional sinister element involving the taking of hostages was calculated to subject a smaller group of victims to a more intimately, terrifying encounter.

"The whole plan was designed with the objective of instilling widespread fear in the community and to inspire others by the respondents' example.

"If the planned events had come to fruition, they would have left an indelible stain on the civic and national consciousness," Justice Weinberg said.

Ali was radicalised by Islamic State along with his brother Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, who was responsible for a terror attack in Bourke Street that claimed the life of much-loved restaurateur Sisto Malaspina.

Hassan Ali was shot by police and later died after his rampage in the city in 2018.

On Friday, the court heard Ali had denounced Islamic State and that he had positive prospects for rehabilitation, factors which lessened the length of the revised sentence.

[Knocker]

Using the standard practices of Law Enforcement and associated Justice Systems typical of Western cultures against Islamic Terrorism is a piecemeal approach doomed to failure. While the usual efforts directed at catching and incarcerating individual terrorists are laudable and necessary steps, they are wholly inadequate to stem the tide of newly radicalized fanatics flowing into Western nations intent on following the dictates of their most authoritative religious doctrines.
Although no doubt many immigrants from the Middle East are seeking peaceful residence and business success, many others are here to inflict the most severe and bloodthirsty consequences of jihad on unsuspecting victims. (Notice their attacks are almost invariably against unarmed and unaware civilians: in nightclubs, while Christmas shopping, at athletic events, asleep in hotels, in airplanes, and walking along city streets.)
Our laws have conclusively proved to be no deterrent to the goading urgency of Islam’s most sacred demands. While we must continue to arrest and imprison terrorists, we must redirect our defense to include the source of their inspiration. So long as the Koran and it’s deadly prescriptions are immune from critical judgment, from condemnation, and from public ridicule, Islamic Terrorists inspired by their sacred book will piously continue their deadly surprise attacks on innocent citizens without hesitation and without fear of eternal damnation.
We must end the Koran’s exemption from scrutiny and legitimate criticism. It must be judged by the standards of Western Culture and condemned (and ridiculed) for it’s evil strictures and malignant influence in the world.