Wannabe jihadi freed, placed on good behaviour bond

A YOUNG wannabe Islamic State fighter stopped at Sydney Airport as he tried to fly to Syria will walk free from jail after being handed a five-year good behaviour bond.

Moudasser Taleb, who had no plane ticket and little money when arrested in mid-2017, was found guilty by a jury in April of preparing to travel to Syria for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities.

The defence had claimed Taleb had no intention of engaging in warfare or was mentally ill at the time.

Taleb was 22 when caught at the airport in June 2017. He was later found to have videos on his phone of beheadings, people with ISIS flags and battlefields. NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Hamill yesterday said the two years Taleb had already spent in custody were adequate.

The judge found him to be of good character despite his crime. “I accept his mental illness had a significant impact on his moral culpability,” Justice Hamill said, referring to a diagnosis of schizophrenia after Taleb’s arrest. CENTRELINK’S controversial robo-debt program is under international scrutiny for potential breaches of human rights.

In a submission to the UN’s independent expert on poverty, the Human Rights Law Centre has warned automated penalties risk sending families deeper into poverty.

The submission will be used in a report to be presented in October to the UN General Assembly. The robo-debt system is a computer program that gathers data from government agencies to see if there are discrepancies with what people have reported to Centrelink.