Brisbane: Man charged with terrorism offences
I think this sets some kind of record, in terms of That Which Must Not Be Named. A ‘man’ has been arrested – basically, a Brisbane-resident Muslim man who was in Saudi Arabia for some time, and was planning to engage in jihad in Syria (against the deemed-infidel heretic Alawites). The reporter gets through the whole article without once mentioning the obvious.
Counter-terrorism police have charged a 39-year-old man with preparation for foreign incursions, alleging he played a senior role in a Brisbane-based group that maintained a desire to travel to Syria to engage in hostile activities.
The charges were brought as part of an investigation by the Queensland Joint Counter Terrorism Team into the group.
It will be alleged the Brisbane group maintained a religiously motivated, violent extremist ideology. Somehow I doubt that the ‘religion’ motivating the ‘extremist ideology’ was Christianity, Buddhism, HInduism or Judaism.
The 39-year-old man was arrested in mid-July when he arrived at the Sydney International Airport from Saudi Arabia, where he had been since 2019.
He has been charged with preparations for incursions into foreign states for purpose of engaging in hostile activities, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail if convicted.
Police will allege he was a “founding senior figure” in an organisation involved in providing financial aid to people, and that he subsequently left Australia to participate in the Syrian civil war with the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – a militant group opposed to Syrian government forces.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said there was no ongoing threat to the community relating to the matter.
“The AFP will continue to discourage and disrupt Australians from fighting overseas and holding people to account for their involvement in supporting terrorism and terrorist organisations,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Counter Terrorism Scott Lee said.
The man is set to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court tomorrow.