Three men have been jailed for at least 16 years each for planning to use machetes and improvised bombs to carry out a terrorist attack in Melbourne’s CBD.
A lengthy trial heard the men had purchased machetes as well as metal pipes, light globes and batteries to make explosives and had tried to obtain guns.
Abdullah Chaarani, 29, and Ahmed Mohamed, 27, must each serve 28 years in prison.
The third man sentenced today, 24-year-old Hamza Abbas, was jailed for at least 16 years.
In sentencing, Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale described the 2016 plot as “an assault on the fundamental values of our society”.
The plot is the second terrorism conviction for Chaarani and Mohamed, who are already serving 22-year prison terms for setting fire to a Shia mosque in Melbourne’s north just a few weeks before the planned attack.
Hamza Abbas’s brother Ibrahim Abbas was the key witness in the case, claiming to be the group’s ringleader.
Last year, he was sentenced to 24 years in prison for leading the plan, which included putting an explosive vest on his brother Hamza.
The sentencing of the trio has taken place more than a year after they were found guilty by a jury.
It was delayed by the trial in which Mohamed and Chaarani were convicted of terrorism offences for torching the Fawkner mosque.
That crime was described by the sentencing judge as “an attack on religious freedom” motivated by “the evil ideology” of the Islamic State (IS) group.
More to come.
The post Trio jailed for plotting Christmas terrorist attack in Melbourne’s Federation Square appeared first on The New Daily.
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