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Cleric guilty of leading a terror group
Radical Muslim cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika has become Australia's first convicted terrorist leader after a marathon trial was told of his plans to cause mass casualties at landmark Melbourne sites.
Five followers have also been convicted of being members of his terrorist cell, which discussed bombing the Melbourne Cricket Ground on AFL grand final day and killing women and children in their pursuit of violent jihad.
Another four alleged members of the group were found not guilty and walked free from court on Monday.
Benbrika, 48, displayed no emotion as a Victorian Supreme Court jury found him guilty of intentionally directing the activities of a terrorist organisation and of being a member of a terrorist organisation.
The jury also found five of his followers - Aimen Joud, 23, of Hoppers Crossing, Fadl Sayadi, 28, of Coburg, Abdullah Merhi, 22, of Fawkner, Ezzit Raad, 26, of Preston, and Ahmed Raad, 24, also of Fawkner - guilty of being members of a terrorist organisation.
The four cleared men - Hany Taha, 33, of Hadfield, Bassam Raad, 26, of Brunswick, Majed Raad, 23, of Coburg, and Shoue Hammoud, 28, of Hadfield - made no comment as they walked free from court in central Melbourne, flanked by their lawyers.
Australia's biggest terrorism trial ran for 115 days. The jury deliberated for 21 days before returning its verdicts on Monday.
But jurors have more work to do. They are yet to reach verdicts on charges against Shane Kent and Amer Haddara and will continue deliberations on Tuesday.
The trial heard from more than 50 witnesses and was played thousands of hours of recordings captured by listening devices and telephone intercepts.
The jury heard that Benbrika, of the Melbourne suburb of Dallas, had told his followers it was "permissible to kill women, children and the aged" and that the group needed to kill at least 1,000 non-believers to make the Australian government withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
He told one of his group: "If we want to die for jihad, we do maximum damage, maximum damage, damage their buildings with everything and damage their lives just to show them".
In April, prosecution witness Izzydeen Atik told the court Benbrika spoke to him of a plan to blow up the MCG on grand final day in 2005, when the stadium would have been packed with almost 100,000 fans.
"He said the AFL grand final was the original target," Atik told the court.
Outside court, Benbrika's lawyer Remy van de Wiel was unsure whether there would be an appeal.
"I don't make this decision. I'll wait until he tells me," Mr van de Wiel said.
He said Benbrika had been very stressed throughout the court proceedings.
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland welcomed the convictions.
"It is my view that the successful prosecution in the Pendennis trials is the most successful terrorist prosecution that this country has seen," Mr McClelland said.
But Mr McClelland said the government must remain vigilant for both home grown militants and international groups like Jemaah Islamiah.
"It would be naive to discount the prospect of a terrorist attack in Australia, clearly a terrorist attack in Australia is possible," he said.
The 12 men, who were arrested following raids on their homes in November 2005, faced a total of 27 counts.
Among a mixed bag of verdicts, the jury found Joud, Sayadi and Ahmed Raad guilty of intentionally providing resources to a terrorist organisation, knowing it was a terrorist organisation.
Ahmed Raad, Ezzit Raad and Joud were also found guilty of intentionally making funds available to a terrorist organisation.
Before being sent home on Tuesday night, jurors were warned by trial judge Justice Bernard Bongiorno not to watch the television news or read newspapers.
"It is more important than ever that you keep yourself completely divorced from that," Justice Bongiorno said.
Jurors will resume deliberations on the two remaining accused, who face a total of three counts, at 9am (AEST) on Tuesday.
A pre-sentence hearing for the six guilty men will begin on November 18.
Radical Muslim cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika has become Australia's first convicted terrorist leader after a marathon trial was told of his plans to cause mass casualties at landmark Melbourne sites.
Five followers have also been convicted of being members of his terrorist cell, which discussed bombing the Melbourne Cricket Ground on AFL grand final day and killing women and children in their pursuit of violent jihad.
Another four alleged members of the group were found not guilty and walked free from court on Monday.
Benbrika, 48, displayed no emotion as a Victorian Supreme Court jury found him guilty of intentionally directing the activities of a terrorist organisation and of being a member of a terrorist organisation.
The jury also found five of his followers - Aimen Joud, 23, of Hoppers Crossing, Fadl Sayadi, 28, of Coburg, Abdullah Merhi, 22, of Fawkner, Ezzit Raad, 26, of Preston, and Ahmed Raad, 24, also of Fawkner - guilty of being members of a terrorist organisation.
The four cleared men - Hany Taha, 33, of Hadfield, Bassam Raad, 26, of Brunswick, Majed Raad, 23, of Coburg, and Shoue Hammoud, 28, of Hadfield - made no comment as they walked free from court in central Melbourne, flanked by their lawyers.
Australia's biggest terrorism trial ran for 115 days. The jury deliberated for 21 days before returning its verdicts on Monday.
But jurors have more work to do. They are yet to reach verdicts on charges against Shane Kent and Amer Haddara and will continue deliberations on Tuesday.
The trial heard from more than 50 witnesses and was played thousands of hours of recordings captured by listening devices and telephone intercepts.
The jury heard that Benbrika, of the Melbourne suburb of Dallas, had told his followers it was "permissible to kill women, children and the aged" and that the group needed to kill at least 1,000 non-believers to make the Australian government withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
He told one of his group: "If we want to die for jihad, we do maximum damage, maximum damage, damage their buildings with everything and damage their lives just to show them".
In April, prosecution witness Izzydeen Atik told the court Benbrika spoke to him of a plan to blow up the MCG on grand final day in 2005, when the stadium would have been packed with almost 100,000 fans.
"He said the AFL grand final was the original target," Atik told the court.
Outside court, Benbrika's lawyer Remy van de Wiel was unsure whether there would be an appeal.
"I don't make this decision. I'll wait until he tells me," Mr van de Wiel said.
He said Benbrika had been very stressed throughout the court proceedings.
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland welcomed the convictions.
"It is my view that the successful prosecution in the Pendennis trials is the most successful terrorist prosecution that this country has seen," Mr McClelland said.
But Mr McClelland said the government must remain vigilant for both home grown militants and international groups like Jemaah Islamiah.
"It would be naive to discount the prospect of a terrorist attack in Australia, clearly a terrorist attack in Australia is possible," he said.
The 12 men, who were arrested following raids on their homes in November 2005, faced a total of 27 counts.
Among a mixed bag of verdicts, the jury found Joud, Sayadi and Ahmed Raad guilty of intentionally providing resources to a terrorist organisation, knowing it was a terrorist organisation.
Ahmed Raad, Ezzit Raad and Joud were also found guilty of intentionally making funds available to a terrorist organisation.
Before being sent home on Tuesday night, jurors were warned by trial judge Justice Bernard Bongiorno not to watch the television news or read newspapers.
"It is more important than ever that you keep yourself completely divorced from that," Justice Bongiorno said.
Jurors will resume deliberations on the two remaining accused, who face a total of three counts, at 9am (AEST) on Tuesday.
A pre-sentence hearing for the six guilty men will begin on November 18.
