Photos Could Prejudice Terror Cell Case
Young men in Melbourne with nothing else to do...TWO Melbourne men, including one who allegedly promised Osama bin Laden he would commit jihad, will stand trial over terrorism charges.
Shane Kent, 29, of Meadow Heights, and Aimen Joud, 21, of Hoppers Crossing, allegedly produced a propaganda video for al-Qaeda called Such as the Messengers Tested.
Kent also met bin Laden at the Al Farooq training camp in Afghanistan, a committal hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court was told today.
"It is the prosecution case that when Mr Kent left Al Farooq he had met bin Laden and that he had pledged in bin Laden's presence to carry out jihad," prosecutor Mark Dean, SC, said.
Both Kent and Joud pleaded not guilty to charges of being members of a terrorist organisation, providing support to al-Qaeda and making an item (the video) connected with a terrorist act.
Meanwhile their lawyers cry foul over photos:
THE photographs show Aimen Joud on holiday in Lebanon. In the first, he poses with an AK-47 assault rifle for an unknown photographer. In the second, he sits on another's shoulders as he brandishes the weapon.
They were taken in 2002, when Joud was about 17, two years before he came under investigation as a member of an alleged terror cell.
A Melbourne court released the two images during a committal hearing yesterday, despite lawyers' protestations that the pictures were irrelevant to the charges against Joud.
"We are talking about a man in battledress with an AK-47 and there is no basis on which they can be tendered (to the court)," said Joud's lawyer, Paul Marin. "These photographs do not have any particular relevance."
He said the images should not form part of the case against Joud, and that a prejudiced person might say that they obviously represented an Islamic terrorist.
No particular relevance?! Well...the camera never lies. My best advice here, boys and girls, is never take a holiday in LEBANON, dress up in battledress, brandish an AK-47, take pictures of it and later get arrested for meeting with and provide support for Al Qaeda. It might just taint the jury.
Labels: al-Qaeda, Jihad, Osama Bin Laden, Terrorist Cell
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