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| Down Under |
| Terror suspect denies 'pack of lies' |
| 2006-05-23 |
| SYDNEY terrorist suspect Faheem Khalid Lodhi today denied he was telling "a pack of lies" at his NSW Supreme Court trial. The 36-year-old architect is accused of planning to bomb the national electricity system or Sydney defence sites. He has pleaded not guilty to four terrorism-related charges. In October 2003, Lodhi allegedly inquired about buying chemicals capable of making explosives in preparation for a terrorist act. The jury has heard that when ASIO raided his office later that month, they found 15 pages of handwritten notes containing recipes for explosives, including urea nitrate. The prosecution has described the document as a "terrorism manual". Lodhi told the court he was planning to export chemicals to make detergents, and had forgotten about the notes at the time he inquired about chemical prices. During cross-examination, Crown Prosecutor Richard Maidment SC suggested Lodhi was trying to disguise the fact that he wanted to buy urea and nitric acid, two ingredients of urea nitrate. "Your story to the jury about your interest in manufacturing detergents is a load of rubbish ... you had in mind to prepare for a terrorist act," Mr Maidment said. "No, it's not right," Lodhi said. Lodhi told the court he had copied the information in the handwritten notes three or four years before the ASIO raid, from a website he stumbled across while using a computer at Sydney University. He said he spent one or two hours copying down the information, which he translated from English into his native language, Urdu. Lodhi said he looked at the website out of curiosity and had "foolishly" written down some of the information he found. He denied writing in Urdu to disguise the information or because he had "a guilty conscience" about the contents. Lodhi said he had not intended to keep the document and never even thought about using it. "I suggest that your story about finding this accidentally on the Internet ... is a load of rubbish," Mr Maidment said. "No, it's true," Lodhi replied. "You're telling the jury a pack of lies, aren't you?" Mr Maidment asked. "No, it's true," Lodhi said. Mr Maidment suggested Lodhi's evidence was "absolutely made up from start to finish", to cover up the fact that he had the notes "for a purpose connected with the preparation for an act of terrorism". Lodhi denied it. The trial continues before Justice Anthony Whealy. |
| Posted by:ryuge |