5 Australians jailed for between 23 and 28 years over terror plot
5 Australians jailed for between 23 and 28 years over terror plot
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 15, Feb 2010 11:03
By Richard James.
Five Australian Muslims convicted over a terrorist plot and the stockpiling of explosive chemicals and firearms have been sentenced to between 23 and 28 years in prison today.
The men were originally found guilty in October last year of conspiring to commit an attack between July 2004 and November 2005 allegedly in retaliation to Australia's involvement in the coalition military offensives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They were convicted on charges such as possessing bomb-making instructions and explosive chemicals.
None of the men involved have been named and the exact details of the plot and intended targets have never been specified.
During the ten-month trial the prosecution told the New South Wales state supreme court claimed the men had obtained instructions on how to build devices such as pipe bombs capable of causing mass casualties.
Sentencing the men, judge Anthony Whealy declared the men had been motivated by "intolerant inflexible religious conviction".
"It is clear beyond argument that the fanaticism and extremist position taken by each offender countenanced the possibility of loss of life," he added.
The men, aged between 25 and 44, were first arrested in Sydney in 2005 as part of Australia's largest-ever terror raids.
Prosecutor Richard Maidment claimed in the trial police had discovered "large quantities of literature which supported indiscriminate killing, mass murder and martyrdom in pursuit of violent jihad" when the men's homes were raided.
All five men had pleaded not guilty to the charges.