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| Down Under |
| Aussie terror chief 'defended religion' says counsel |
| 2008-07-03 |
| The alleged leader of a Melbourne terrorist cell was merely standing up for his religion when he spoke to his followers about holy war and other acts of defiance, the Victorian Supreme Court has been told. Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, of Dallas in Melbourne, is charged with directing a terrorist organisation. Along with 11 other men he is also charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation that was preparing or fostering a terrorist act. But his counsel, Remy Ven de Wiel QC, told the court Benbrika was merely a man who defended his religion. "The Muslims in Australia have a sense of powerlessness and political impotence and they express themselves," Mr Van de Wiel said. When Benbrika made various comments about holy war and of Muslims being under attack, it was "in accordance with his religion - with his belief". "He is a man who says 'I am standing up for my religion and jihad is part of my religion and I will continue talking about it," Mr Van de Wiel said. On the first day of closing defence arguments in what is Australia's biggest terror trial yet, Mr Van de Wiel told the jury the men had been under surveillance from ASIO and their phones had been tapped. In the knowledge that their conversations were being recorded, and in a reflection of the seriousness with which they took themselves, the men referred to themselves as the "A1 terrorist group". "They are laughing," he said. "They're no different to you and I - they can send up a situation." Mr Van de Wiel also accused ASIO of adopting "terrifying Nazi tactics" by raiding the men's homes in the early hours of the morning. He also asked the jury to consider the evidence of a secretly recorded conversation in which one of the accused men, Shoue Hammoud, questions Benbrika about the surveillance. "But we haven't done anything," Hammoud said in the tape played to the court. Mr Van de Wiel told the jury there was no suggestion any of the men had actually engaged in an act of terror. "There is no evidence that they have done anything," he said. Closing arguments continue Friday. |
| Posted by:ryuge |