Khawaja brother ‘framed’ colleague
Star cricketer’s sibling held for allegedly faking terror hitlist
THE brother of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja has been accused of framing a colleague with a fake terror hitlist targeting politicians over a dispute involving a woman.
Arsalan Khawaja was arrested in Sydney yesterday morning as part of a counterterrorism investigation into the document, found at the University of NSW in August.
It allegedly outlined threats to kill former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, former foreign minister Julie Bishop and attacks on a number of iconic sites. The 39-year-old was taken to Parramatta police station, where he was charged with attempting to pervert justice and forgery.
“We believe that this was planned and it was calculated,” Assistant Commissioner Mick Willing said yesterday.
“We have no information to suggest that there is any ongoing threat to the community arising from our inquiries into the matter.”
The arrest comes about three weeks after charges were dropped against a Sri Lankan man, 25, who was wrongly accused of creating the documents. Mohamed Kamer Nilar Nizamdeen, who has returned to Sri Lanka, plans to sue for compensation after being detained in Goulburn’s Supermax jail after his arrest in August.
The University of NSW contractor was charged with creating a document in connection with preparing for a terrorist act, and spent four weeks behind bars. He was released on bail in late September.
Mr Willing yesterday said Mr Nizamdeen’s arrest was regrettable and police had paid his court costs, but stopped short of apologising.
“We feel very sorry for him and what has happened to him but what we will be alleging is that he was set up in a planned and calculated manner,” he said. “Motivated, in part, by a personal grievance.”
Asked whether that grievance was over a woman, Mr Willing said: “We will allege that that is part of the process.”
He said the matter was complicated and had taken up an “enormous” amount of resources.
“We were determined to get to the bottom of who was responsible and we are alleging we’ve done that now,” he said.
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Ian McCartney stood by the decision to arrest Mr Nizamdeen at the time, given the “serious threats to a number of highprofile politicians and iconic sites” in the notebook.
“At all times we’ve acted in good faith, we’ve acted expeditiously,” he said.