Sydney Man Hamdi Alqudsi Held Guilty Of planning terror attacks on gay mardi gras

A NSW Supreme Court jury on Thursday held Hamdi Alqudsi guilty of allegedly plotting to carry out attacks on Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and other places as leader of the terrorist group ‘Shura’.

The court has scheduled Alqudsi’s sentencing over two days starting October 31, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.

Alqudsi was the first Australian to be convicted and sentenced to eight years imprisonment in 2016 for his role in sending young men from Australia to Syria to help Islamic State fighters in the country’s civil war.

He was then charged with planning to carry out domestic terror attacks.

Recruited Men To Send Them To Syria

The prosecution case was that Alqudsi set up the Shura in 2013 and dubbed himself the “commander” and “emir” of the Shura. Shura means consultation council in Arabic.

Alqudsi along with other members of the Shura allegedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a ceremony at Wattamolla Beach on August 31, 2014.

The group initially recruited young men to travel to Syria. The Australian Federal Police and NSW Police busted that plan. Frustrated with the disruption, the group started planning domestic terror attacks on Australian soil. Following the pledge of allegiance, Islamic State granted permission to Shura to carry out terror attacks in Australia.

The jury was told that there were plans to attack Garden Island Naval Base in the Sydney’s Woolloomoolo suburb, the Israeli embassy, courthouses and the Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Phone Taps Revealed Mardi Gras Attack Plans

During the trial, the prosecution played intercepted phone conversations between Alqudsi, other Shura members and the group’s contacts in Syria, including one Mohammad Ali Baryalei.

Baryalei said that someone from Syria could fly over to Sydney to help train the members of Shura to set up improvised explosive devices for the attack. There were also conversations around sending men from Syria to Sydney to carry out terror attacks on the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Alqudsi denied the charges and claimed he was innocent.

Source: Star Observer