Source : Perth Now news
Videos depicting mass casualty events, terrorist beheadings and the execution of hostages were allegedly located during a counter terrorism raid on a Melbourne man’s home, a court has been told.
Mohammad Ahmadzai, 30, was arrested at Melbourne Airport at the weekend and charged with possessing violent extremist material and failing to comply with an order to hand over the passcodes to his devices.
Mr Ahmadzai appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to apply for bail to live with his aunt and uncle.
Magistrate Samantha Seoud has reserved her decision on the case and will hand down a judgment on Thursday.
Giving evidence, Australian Federal Police (AFP) sergeant James Allison said detectives from the National Security Investigations team had raided Mr Ahmadzai’s home on May 7 as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged distribution of ISIS propaganda.
The officer said Mr Ahmadzai’s younger brother, Mohammad Ahmadzai, 21, was the target of the raid, but police seized an iPhone and an iPad from the older man.
The younger Mohammad Ahmadzai was one of four men charged with possessing violent extremist material on May 7, as police raided four homes.
Sergeant Allison told the court police examined Mr Ahmadzai’s iPhone after he was stopped at Melbourne Airport on August 7 after Australian Border Force officers allegedly saw flags attributed to Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin – an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group in West Africa – on his phone.
He said material alleged to be violent extremist material was found on the iPhone including the close range shooting of a man, mass casualty events, hostages having their throats cut and deceased children in Gaza.
“It is quite horrific material this sort of stuff,” he said.
“It’s very, very offensive, it’s very extreme.”
The officer said a full examination had not yet been completed of the iPhone, and police intend to search the iPad, an iMac desktop computer and a black Samsung Galaxy phone.
The court was told Mr Ahmadzai had exercised his right to silence but had told police he was on his way to Kabul in Afghanistan to visit his ill father when he was stopped at Melbourne Airport.
Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Siobhan Stary, Sergeant Allison said there was no evidence to suggest Mr Ahmadzai supported any terror groups.
Taken at it’s highest, Ms Stary argued, the prosecution case could demonstrate he allegedly “had an interest” in the material.
The court was told the four men, including his younger brother, who were charged in May had been released on bail.
Ms Stary said her client’s uncle and aunt had offered to have him stay with them and he had an offer for work at a construction company.
Prosecutors have opposed bail arguing Mr Ahmazdai had not met the test of demonstrating there are exceptional circumstances justifying bail.
“Material is found over two separate phones over several months … linked to two separate terrorist organisations,” prosecutor Bridget Atkinson argued.
According to the Australian Federal Police, Mr Ahmadzai is the sixth Melbourne man charged as part of an “ongoing investigation into a group of Australian men (allegedly) accessing and distributing ISIS propaganda online”.
He will return to court on Thursday.
