Australian men Omar Al-Kutobi, 25, and Mohammad Kiad, 27, have both been sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in jail for each pleaded guilty to one count of acting in preparation for a terrorist act where they planned to detonate a bomb and kill a random member of the public.They were arrested during counter-terrorism raids in February 2015 in Sydney’s western suburbs.
In the NSW Supreme Court at Parramatta on Friday, Justice Peter Garling sentenced them to 20 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 years.
Police during the raid found a video which was filmed by Kuwait-born Kiad but showed Iraq-born Al-Kutobi posing in front of an ISIS flag with a knife, which was filmed by Kiad. He also held a sign which read “we are the soldiers of the Islamic State, we are here to cut your heads”.
“I express my apology and sorryness to you and the government of Australia and the Australian community,” Mr Al-Kutobi wrote in the letter.
“I hope to have a second chance to prove [myself] to the Australian community.”
“I do regret everything that I have done.”
Justice Garling said that if the attack had been successful it would have been “valuable propaganda for Islamic State had the attack gone ahead”.
