Asylum seekers charged with criminal offences:
Javad Heydari, 35, from Afghanistan, allegedly stabbed a man to death and injured another in The Crescent, Berala, at 2am on September 6, 2013. He was charged with murder and causing wounding/grievous bodily harm to a person with the intent to murder and will appear in Burwood Local Court on July 14.
A 47-year-old Sri Lankan asylum seeker was accused of squeezing a woman’s bottom during a Ricky Martin concert at Parramatta Westfield on May 9 last year. He received a 12-month section nine good behaviour bond and the matter is no longer before the courts.
Mohammed Salem Nazari, 33, from Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault after touching the thighs, bottoms and breasts of seven teenage girls at Sydney Olympic Park pool on December 8 last year. He was jailed for 14 months and will be deported once he has completed his sentence.
Daxchan Selvarajah, 21, from Sri Lanka, was charged for allegedly putting his hand down the pyjama pants of a student at Macquarie University while she was sleeping on February 21, 2013. He was charged with two counts of aggravated entering of a dwelling with intent to commit indecent assault and one count of indecent assault. He will appear at Parramatta District Court on September 1.
Rubel Sheikh, 26, from Bangladesh, was ordered to serve 15 months in jail for indecently assaulting a visually impaired woman on July 17 last year. He touched her on the thigh and breast, and asked for “a goodbye kiss” at Ashfield station.
A 39-year-old asylum seeker from Sri Lanka was charged with assault with an act of indecency for attacking a pregnant teacher in Quakers Hill. He will appear in Blacktown Local Court on July 16.
Jayakodiarchige Appuhamy, 25, was charged with two counts of sexual assault for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl while on a church camp in Dee Why on August 22 and 23, last year. He had his bail refused and will appear for trial at Parramatta District Court on September 29.
About 30 asylum seekers released into the community have been charged with a range of offences, including people smuggling and paedophilia.
Kissing cousins and a Beirut bonus: arranged marriage will be investigated over alleged fly-in welfare fraud
Janet Fife - Yeomans
The Daily Telegraph
July 23,2014
Wife, 33, told FCC her husband had her return several times to Australia solely to update Centrelink details
TWO first cousins in an arranged marriage are being investigated for immigration and Centrelink fraud and rorting the baby bonus by returning to Australia from Lebanon for the births of some of their seven children.
The woman, 33, told the Federal Circuit Court sitting in Parramatta her husband also had her return several times to Australia solely to update Centrelink details so she could continue to get social security.
The family was receiving Family Tax benefits that in the last financial year totalled $25,265.74, despite three of their children having lived in Lebanon since 2009, Judge Joe Harman said.
“On at least two occasions (the mother) returned to Australia for a brief period purely to allow the child then carried by (her) to be born in Australia and to then receive the baby bonus then operating,” the judge said.
The case was before the court because the Australian-born mother is applying for the return of her three eldest children, aged 12, 10 and nine, from Lebanon and custody of all seven children.
The others are aged seven, five, three and two. The eldest live with their father’s brother and paternal grandmother in a mountain village.
The now-estranged couple wed in Lebanon in 2001 two weeks after meeting in an arranged marriage. They returned to Australia and lived for a time with their relatives — the woman’s sister is married to the man’s brother.
There would appear to be, at least potentially, some anomaly as regards the eligibility requirements for citizenship at the time the application was made
The husband, 39, was granted citizenship in 2006 in circumstances which Judge Harman said troubled him since the couple had decided to live in Lebanon.
“It is concerning (the man’s) evidence is his citizenship was granted in 2006 at the very time when, consistent with his evidence, he had formed the desire and intention to live permanently in Lebanon and to return to Australia … solely for the purpose of earning a greater income than was available to him in Lebanon, and returning the funds to Lebanon,” the judge said.
“There would appear to be, at least potentially, some anomaly as regards the eligibility requirements for citizenship at the time the application was made ... (and) whether it was obtained on the basis of full, frank and candid disclosure or otherwise.”
He said he would refer the case to the Immigration and Human Services departments for investigation.
The woman, who alleged her husband was violent toward her, was met at the airport by the Australian Federal Police when the pair returned to Australia in March.
The judge refused the father permission to leave Australia and put him on the Airport Watch List until he has facilitated the return to Australia of the eldest children.
The hearing resumes at the end of this month.
Bail denied to man who allegedly lured teen girl to stairwell then held her down and gang raped her
Sarah Crawford
The Daily Telegraph
July 23,2014
A MAN accused of luring a 16-year-old girl to a stairwell where he held her down and gang raped her has been refused bail in Liverpool Magistrates Court.
Hassan Kugor, 20 and two 16-year-old boys fronted court charged over the alleged random attack on the girl in a carpark stairwell at Liverpool on the evening of June 21.
Sergeant Alex Thom told the court Kugor is accused of having sexual intercourse with her without her consent.
“He is accused of holding down the victim applying pressure to her chest and proceeding to have sexual intercourse with this 16-year-old.”
Sgt Thom told the court police had obtained CCTV footage of the incident and had DNA evidence.
It is alleged the girl was lured away from Liverpool City Library by a group of six men and raped in a multi-story carpark stairwell.
The girl had been using free wi-fi in the forecourt of the closed library about 9pm, when she was approached by a group of men who struck up a conversation centred around a mutual acquaintance.
The girl was invited to meet the mutual acquaintance at a nearby carpark where she was allegedly raped by at least two males while four members of the group stood nearby.
After the attack the girl went back to the library where she alerted a member of the public who contacted police.
The alleged gang rape happened just metres from Liverpool police station and courthouse.
Legal Aid lawyer Karen Lai said police had yet to determine a match in DNA profile or fingerprints found at the scene.
Ms Lai said the court would have to be satisfied that the sexual intercourse was not consensual.
“On reading the victim’s account of what has occurred it is not apparent that there was resistance.”
Magistrate Gary Still described the accusations against Kugor as a, “ gross violation of a person.”
“To safeguard the community and the victim for that reason bail is refused.”
Kugor’s family appeared at court for the brief appearance.
The two 16-year-olds appeared in Campbeltown Children’s Court charged over the gang rape they were granted strict conditional bail.
Taxi driver Shakeel Uddin had ‘hand up passenger’s dress’, court hears
Lema Samander
The Daily Telegraph
July 10 2014
A YOUNG woman was heard screaming and crying after she was groped by a taxi driver when she fell asleep, police alleged.
He told Burwood Local Court he then saw a distressed young woman standing near the cab and yelling out: “You touched me, you don’t touch someone to wake them up.”
The woman slammed the front passenger door and the taxi drove off.
“I saw the lady screaming and crying to herself. She was walking slowly and she was crying loudly,” Constable Boyan said.
He told the court he approached the woman who told him: “I was assaulted by the taxi driver. I was asleep and I woke in the taxi and he had his hand up my dress.”
Constable Boyan said the 24-year-old woman said she had drunk alcohol but didn’t appear “obviously intoxicated”.
“When I spoke to (the woman) she was clearly upset and crying,” he said
Police allege Shakeel Uddin, 48, kissed the side of her neck, rubbed her breast and between her legs on top of her underwear.
Police arrested Uddin in his cab in Western Sydney two weeks after the alleged attack.
Uddin, from Canley Vale, has pleaded not guilty to the charge of assault with an act of indecency.
The hearing continues.
Australian terrorists Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar share extremist views supporting ISIS through Twitter
James Law
The Daily Telegraph
July 8 2014
“BY THE will of Allah, heads will be removed.”
“Can’t wait to see an Australian soldier crying.”
“Those who oppose the Khilafah should be crucified.”
These are just some of the chilling comments made by two Australian men who have joined the Islamic State (ISIS) fundamentalist uprising in Syria and Iraq.
Former Sydney residents Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar have joined the ISIS movement in the Middle East, and they are using the megaphone of social media to spread jihadist statements and take on their detractors.
They have both been prolific since joining Twitter a few months ago, sharing death threats and shockingly violent images.
Convicted terrorist Sharrouf was born in Australia and lived in Sydney’s west until he fled the country on his brother Mustafa’s passport in December.
He spent time in jail for his part the in a foiled “Terror Nine” plot to blow up targets in Sydney and Melbourne.
He is now believed to be in Syria, where he has joined the Sunni revolt and has proudly tweeted photos of himself with machine guns and military vehicles.
On Saturday, he delivered a plea for others to join the extremist movement, tweeting “come and be part of what we have dreamt For for decades” (sic).
His first tweet when he joined in May was of a little boy holding a machinegun.
He also tweeted a shockingly violent photograph of a man whose head had been blown away.
Elomar, a boxer, has also joined the fighting in the Middle East and he has been very busy on Twitter despite only joining in April. He has used the site to spout hateful anti-democracy rhetoric, tweeting as many as 11 times yesterday alone.
Detractors around the world have taken to Twitter to challenge the men’s comments.
In response to one Australian detractor over Twitter, Elomar said burning his Australian passport was the best day of his life.
Australian police and security agencies are aware of the two men and they will not be permitted back into the country should they attempt to return.
Security sources told The Daily Telegraph last month that they were concerned Sharrouf was using social media to “whip up” radical sentiments back in Australia.
The military situation in Iraq remains perilous, with hopes of regaining control of nearly half the country from Sunni extremists suffering dual setbacks yesterday.
The Iraqi Parliament failed to form a new government and insurgents killed a top military officer who was leading the defence of Baghdad’s western suburbs.
The uprising represents the biggest threat to the country’s survival since US troops invaded in 2003.
Sharrouf and Elomar are among as many as 300 young Australians who have left for the Middle East with hopes of joining the battles, according to sources close to families and communities in western Sydney.
Here are some more of the most worrying posts on Elomar’s Twitter:
Khilafah has the same meaning as caliphate, which refers to the sovereign state the IS revolutionaries claim to have established in Syria and Iraq, under Sharia law.
Woman charged with aiding husband fighting in Syria, Fatima Elomar, appeals for suppression order
Amy Dale
The Daily Telegraph
July 8 2014
A SYDNEY woman charged with aiding her husband as he fights in Syria has experienced “threats” since her arrest at Sydney Airport was made public, a court heard.
Fatima Elomar listened on inside the Downing Centre Local Court as her lawyer Zali Burrowes applied for a suppression order to be placed on her address.
An affidavit presented to the court said Elomar, aged 29 and originally from Brisbane, had been subjected to “at least two threats”.
She covered her face and left through the court’s back entrance.
She was arrested by counter terrorism detectives in May as she tried to board a flight to Malaysia.
Police allege she was carrying cash and supplies, including camouflage gear, on behalf of her husband who is in Syria and reportedly fighting with terror group The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
The case was adjourned until September 9. The mother of four is yet to enter a plea to a charge of supporting terrorism.
Iranian man, 35, charged with murder of man at Westfield Parramatta after allegedly plunging knife into victim over and over
Ashlee Mullany,Lema Samandar and Ben McClellan
The Daily Telegraph
July 8 2014
HORRIFIED Western Sydney shoppers watched yesterday as a man allegedly plunged a knife several times into his girlfriend’s former boyfriend in a packed Westfield Parramatta shopping centre.
The terrifying scenes played out just outside the front of Myer’s cosmetics section on level four at 10.30am.
Witnesses said the 35-year-old Iranian man approached the victim, 40, brandishing a large knife, about the size of a machete, before allegedly stabbing him several times.
Shoppers were heard screaming outside the busy department store with one woman yelling: “He’s killing him, he’s killing him!”
Leaving the knife in the man’s chest, the alleged killer calmly removed his own shirt, lit a cigarette and made a mobile phone call as he waited for police, whom he then taunted.
“He kept plunging the knife in his chest, in and out, and paced up and down the shopping centre screaming at police,” a witness said, adding that the man was stabbed three to four times.
A shopper having coffee with a friend nearby said he watched in horror as the man paced next to the body “like an animal protecting its prey”.
“I thought, ‘This bloke is going to jump’,” the witness, who declined to be named, said. “I heard yelling and screaming and somebody told me, ‘Someone’s just been stabbed’.”
A witness said the man taunted officers when they arrived, calling out: “What are you scared of?”
Police approached him with Tasers drawn, yelling: “Get on the ground!”
It is believed the violent attack was sparked by an argument between the attacker and his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.
Acting Superintendent Jennifer Scholz said the alleged stabbing was a targeted attack and that the two men were “connected” to each other.
“That is one lead we are following up,” Supt Scholz said.
The centre was placed in lockdown after the alleged brutal stabbing and 30 stores, including Myer, were closed for the day. The ordeal lasted about 20 minutes from the stabbing to the man’s arrest.
“Everyone was very scared and begging for somebody to stop the attack. There was blood everywhere,” another witness said.
A cafe worker described the horror that played out in the popular centre.
“There was a man with a knife, a big one, like a machete. I saw people running away screaming, it happened so quickly,” he said.
A woman who works at the centre was treated by paramedics for shock and taken to Westmead Hospital.
Detectives were last night interviewing the man with the assistance of an interpreter.
Westfield Parramatta issued a statement yesterday offering counselling services to its retailers, staff and customers.
Shoppers were in shock hours after the attack.
“I could not believe it. It was like the scene out of a movie. It was too surreal,” a witness said.
“When you hear yelling and screaming from a distance you do not expect this to occur on Monday morning during school holidays.”
Police charged a man with murder late last night.
He was denied police bail and will appear in Parramatta Local Court today.
Australian jihadists in macabre threat to soldiers
David Wroe
SMH
July 5, 2014
Australia's most notorious jihadists fighting in Iraq have issued a macabre threat to Australian soldiers as their ranks were bolstered by a Melbourne-born preacher who has joined their new ''caliphate''.
Underscoring the deep concern the Abbott government has expressed in recent weeks about Australians involved with extremist groups, two prominent jihadists fighting with the al-Qaeda splinter group the Islamic State took to Twitter to issue fresh threats.
Mohamed Elomar, a former boxer from Sydney who has been implicated in executions of unarmed Iraqis, posted on the social media site a distressing picture of what appears to be a captured Iraqi soldier who has been beaten and is about to be executed.
Khaled Sharrouf.
The accompanying message states: ''Look at the end of these Iraqi maliki dogs bunch of girls can't wait to see a Australian soldier cyring (sic) saying bakia.''
''Bakia'' means ''he cries'' in Arabic and ''maliki'' refers to the Shiite-led Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki, the fervent enemy of the Sunni extremists who have swept through northern Iraq in recent weeks.
Australian terrorist Khaled Sharrouf, who appeared in Facebook images recently brandishing a gun over executed Iraqis, replied on Twitter: ''Allah … says 'kill them where ever you find them' … terrorise the enemies of Allah.''
Both Elomar and Sharrouf are known to be in Iraq with the ultra-violent group the Islamic State (IS), formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The group changed its name recently after declaring a caliphate, or global Muslim state, in the territory it has captured spanning Syria and Iraq.
Sharrouf was convicted over the 2005 Pendennis terrorism plot and jailed for nearly four years before slipping out of Australia in December on his brother's passport to join the fighting in Syria.
He and Elomar are believed to have crossed the border in recent weeks with IS fighters as the group surged across northern Iraq seizing major towns and cities.
A small force of Australian troops, including elite members of the SAS, travelled to Baghdad just over a fortnight ago to help secure the Australian embassy, though it is regarded as unlikely that IS fighters could reach the Iraqi capital. The Abbott government has ruled out sending troops into combat in the country.
Meanwhile Melbourne-born extremist preacher Musa Cerantonio declared on Twitter that he had reached the ISIL-controlled territory in Syria and Iraq, reflecting the potentially dangerous gravitational effect of the group's caliphate declaration.
''Al-Hamdulillah [Thanks to God] I have arrived in the land of Khilafah [caliphate] in Ash-Sham [the Levant]!'' he wrote on Twitter.
Sharrouf replied: ''Alhumdulihe [Thanks to God] on your arrival see u soon akhi [brother].''
The case of Cerantonio is particularly troubling because of his status as a top cheerleader for IS with a massive online following. A recent report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King's College, London, described him as one of the three most influential preachers online.
He appears to have slipped out of the Philippines where he was in hiding in recent months. His arrival in the Middle East is a blow to Australian authorities who were reportedly making moves to extradite him from the Philippines.
Andrew Zammit, a researcher with Monash University's Global Terrorism Research Centre, said the fact there had been six plots in Europe by returnees from Syria reflected the significant threat level of Westerners fighting in the region. ''Most of the fighters will likely confine their violence to the region, but the prospect that some will return and carry out violence at home is real,'' he said.
Mr Zammit said Cerantonio had previously hedged his bets between key jihadist groups but now appeared to have ''gone all in'' with his support for IS and its new caliphate.
IS is in a power struggle with the old al-Qaeda of Osama bin Laden as well as with another al-Qaeda splinter group, Jabhat al-Nusra. Some experts have said this increases the danger because of the risk one group will try to establish its supremacy over the others by carrying out a major attack on the West.
Sydney Muslim community advocate Dr Jamal Rifi said he was anticipating such an escalation in Australians' participation in the Iraqi conflict and it was dominating nightly discussions on western Sydney streets during Ramadan.
''The community is not happy at all,'' he said. ''These men had already made up their minds and they were never going to come back to Australia. They think they are taking the high moral ground above everyone else back home,'' he said. ''It's a sentiment that we don't agree with at all.''
Muslim 'sheikh' banned from WA prisons
Daily Telegraph
July 1,2014
A PERTH man accused of praising terrorist groups has been banned from West Australian prisons after it emerged he visited a remand jail to preach to inmates.
JUNAID Thorne was deported from Saudi Arabia a year ago after he raised the ire of local authorities for protesting his older brother Shayden's imprisonment on terrorism-related offences.
Shayden was granted clemency in February and reunited with his brother and other family members in Perth.
Junaid has since attracted the attention of authorities and media for online videos in which he lectures about Islam while sitting in front of a flag that looks like that used by Millatu Ibrahim, which has been labelled a terrorist group and banned in Germany.
Shayden has rejected media reports suggesting his online comments reflect support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also knon as ISIS), which is believed responsible for mass killings in Iraq.
"Saying such things ... can constitute investigation by government agencies, and will likely put my freedom in jeopardy," he said in a Facebook post.
"I openly declare that I am not associated with any terrorist groups such as ISIS, nor am I linked to any banned associations such as Millatu Ibrahim Germany.
"Our religious symbols, such as those on flags or banners, are not to be taken as exclusive to a single group, nor to be assumed as identification to a network of groups, whether terrorist or not."
But state Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis said Shayden would not be again allowed to visit WA prisoners after he spoke to a small number of inmates at Hakea Prison a few months ago.
"You could be Catholic, Buddhist, Hindi, Jedi for all I care, if your message is going to help rehabilitate prisoners, if it's a message of forgiveness and peace and reform, I think there's a place in the corrections system for that message to be spread," Mr Francis told Fairfax radio on Tuesday.
"If your message is hatred and bigotry and violence, there is no place in a system where I am trying to reform prisoner behaviour.
"I didn't need an inquiry to realise what he'd said on social media on the last couple of days ... to realise he's just not welcome in a prison in WA."
Originally published as Muslim 'sheikh' banned from WA prisons
Saudi-linked Aussie 'sheik' Junaid Thorne encourages jihadists
Mark Schleibs
The Australian
January 7,2014
THE brother of an Australian man jailed for terrorism-related offences in Saudi Arabia has been delivering lectures at some of the nation's most controversial Islamic centres while encouraging jihadists to show their "might" against disbelievers.
Perth man Junaid Thorne, a 24-year-old who has spent much of his life in Saudi Arabia, has spoken at Sydney's al-Risalah and Melbourne's al-Furqan Islamic centres in recent weeks as part of a lecture tour backed by little-known radical organisation Millatu Ibrahim, which is banned in Germany.
Police and terrorism experts yesterday said they were not aware of the organisation having an active presence in Australia.
At al-Risalah, he sat in front of a Millatu Ibrahim banner - featuring the logo of the al-Qa'ida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant used by the most extreme Sunni fighters in Syria - to deliver his first "public lecture" since being deported from Riyadh in July.
His deportation came after his brother, Shayden, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in a Riyadh prison for possessing terrorism-related materials and supporting and encouraging terrorism. Mr Thorne, whose father is a Noongar Aboriginal man, was detained for two months for protesting against his brother's arrest in December 2011.
According to those who attended the Sydney lecture last month, "Sheik Muhammad Junaid" told followers that businessmen should be donating money to jihadists around the world.
"Support oppressed Muslims across the world, support the mujaheddin," he said, according to a summary of the speech that appeared on social media after the event.
"Money comes and goes, but what remains is what you gave in the cause of Allah. Most of the Ayat (numbered Koranic verses) mention financing jihad before jihad, in relation to the individual (sic) performance."
He said jihadists should not fight among one another, in a possible reference to hostility towards the ISIL by other Sunni groups in Syria.
"You have a noble intention and objective, fighting against each other makes us sad. Show your might against the kuffar (disbelievers) and be merciful towards each other."
Mr Thorne backed the summary of the speech online, saying "may Allah reward" the person who posted it. Repeated efforts to contact Mr Thorne online, through his family and at his local Islamic centre in Perth, were unsuccessful yesterday.
In other online postings, Mr Thorne indicated that he was involved in a group called Millatu Ibrahim Perth and quoted American-born al-Qa'ida militant Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011. Millatu Ibrahim was founded in Germany in 2011 by al-Qa'ida-linked Austrian man Mohamed Mahmoud and German ex-rapper Abou Maleeq, but was quickly banned by authorities because of its extreme Salafist leanings. Leaflets promoting the lectures at al-Risalah and al-Furqan say Mr Thorne's talks had been organised by Millatu Ibrahim Australia.
Al-Risalah, a former bookstore in Bankstown in Sydney's west, also uses the Millatu Ibrahim logo as its Facebook profile picture.
NSW Police said it was aware of the group's reputation in Europe, but had no evidence of a strong local following.
"NSW Police is aware of Millatu Ibrahim, a Salafist group active in Europe, specifically Germany," a spokeswoman said. "However, the group is not believed to be active in NSW."
Millatu Ibrahim Perth's website was recently closed down, but it has used its Facebook page to declare a hatred of disbelievers.
"We hate the Kuffar and everything that they worship," it reads. "We hate their constitutions, we reject their way of life, we reject their political systems, we reject their parliaments, we reject their democracy, capitalism, liberalism, socialism, communism and every other filthy disbelieving 'ism' that has come to act as a hindrance from Islam, the pure religion of Allah to rule from the east to the west."
Al-Risalah has claimed its imam is terrorist Bilal Khazal, who was sentenced to 12 years' jail in 2008 after compiling a book promoting violence against non-Muslims, and has hosted several other radical sheiks.
Al-Furqan was raided by police as part of a counter-terrorism operation in 2012.
Before founding Millatu Ibrahim, Mr Mahmoud was jailed for leading the Global Islamic Media Front, which disseminated al-Qa'ida propaganda.
He was arrested by Turkish authorities near the Syrian border in May, after Millatu Ibrahim was accused of encouraging its followers to fight in Syria, Yemen and Mali.
Mr Maleeq, formerly known as Denis Cuspert, was reportedly injured in September while fighting against government forces in Syria.
you tube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKI5A_PvRVE
