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5 Guilty of Plotting Aussie Terror Attacks

Jihadists convicted of planning mass killings after 10-month trial

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 16, 2009 1:19 AM CDT

(Newser) – Five men have been convicted of conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks in Australia using guns and home-made explosives. The men, busted in raids in Sydney, were accused of plotting attacks to force the government to change its Middle East policy. One of the men trained at a terror camp in Pakistan while others prepared for holy war at training camps in the Australian wilderness, the Australian reports.

Jihadist literature, weapons, and bomb-making materials were found in the men's homes. The five, who could now face life sentences, were found guilty after a 10-month trial, one of the longest in Australian history. Prosecutors said that while they hadn't been able to determine what specific targets the suspects planned to attack, they had sufficient proof that their plans involved "extreme force and violence, including the killing of those who did not share their fundamentalist, extremist beliefs."

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A legal counsel member gestures during proceedings in Australia's Parramatta Court, west of Sydney. (AP Photo/AAP Image, Paul Miller, POOL)

New South Wales Supreme Court judge Justice Anthony Whealy listens to a member of counsel in Parramatta Court, west of Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/AAP Image, Paul Miller, POOL)

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This was a case that relied on circumstantial evidence, creating a picture in the nature of a mosaic or a large jigsaw puzzle. - Crown prosecutor Richard Maidment

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5 Guilty of Plotting Aussie Terror Attacks