Jail for festive terror plot trio

THREE men who had planned to slaughter people in Melbourne’s Federation Square on Christmas Day have been jailed for decades over the foiled plot.

Ahmed Mohamed, Abdullah Chaarani and Hamza Abbas are three of four men convicted over the plan to behead people and set off bombs in 2016. The fourth is Abbas’ older brother Ibrahim Abbas, who is serving up to 24 years after pleading guilty last year.

The group had bought machetes and built practice bombs ahead of their arrest, just three days before Christmas. They had also carried out reconnaissance at Federation Square, St Paul’s Cathedral and Flinders Street Station.

Sentencing the three men at the Supreme Court of Victoria yesterday, Justice Christopher Beale said they had embraced “Islamic State’s hateful ideology” before hatching the plan.

“Each of you ... accessed materials on the internet supportive of Islamic State and violent jihad,” he said.

Their views became so warped they had come to believe the mass slaughter of innocent civilians would be a “glorious act, pleasing to Allah”, he added. “The stupidity of that belief was only matched by its malevolence.”

Mohamed and Chaarani had been part of the conspiracy for about two months before their arrest on December 22, as had Ibrahim Abbas.

Hamza Abbas had been involved for three weeks, encouraged to join in by his brother. Justice Beale said Abbas’ role remained significant.

Despite pleading not guilty of conspiring, Mohamed and Chaarani both admitted their guilt and renounced Islamic State and their belief in violent extremism during a pre-sentence plea hearing in October.

The justice said he accepted the pair were “genuinely on the path of deradicalisation”,

JUSTICE CHRISTOPHER BEALE

noting they had expressed interest in taking part in a deradicalisation program in prison. Hamza Abbas has shown interest in the same program but didn’t renounce extremist beliefs in court.

He sentenced Mohamed and Chaarani to 26 years behind bars over the conspiracy. But 16 years of that sentence will be served cumulatively with another 22-year sentence they are serving for a firebomb attack on a Melbourne mosque in December 2016. The pair have a new non-parole period of 28 years and six months, with a total sentence of 38 years. Abbas has been jailed for 22 years, with a non-parole period of 16 years and six months.

THE STUPIDITY OF THAT BELIEF WAS ONLY MATCHED BY ITS MALEVOLENCE