By Mark Russell
A man has been found guilty of preparing to fight on the frontline in war-torn Syria and die for Allah.
On Tuesday, a Supreme Court jury convicted Amin Mohamed, 25, a New Zealand citizen originally from Somalia who was living in Melbourne's Sunshine West, of three charges of preparing to enter a foreign state to engage in hostile activities.
Amin Mohamed.Credit: ABC
Crown prosecutor Lesley Taylor, QC, had told the jury the evidence against Mohamed had been overwhelming and his claims that he wanted to travel to Syria to do humanitarian work were all lies.
"The Crown says to you that the humanitarian motivation is inherently implausible and illogical," Ms Taylor said. "It doesn't fly and it can be dismissed outright.
"There is no reasonable explanation of the circumstances consistent with the innocence of Amin Mohamed.
"What the Crown says is that the evidence shows that Mr Mohamed was planning to go to Syria to fight, to go to the front line and to have the chance to be martyred in the cause of Allah, that is, to die on the battlefield.
"The Crown does not have to prove what armed group Mr Mohamed intended on joining or the level of competence or organisation of any such group. It does not have to prove the complexities of the military situation in Syria. It is enough to prove that Mr Mohamed intended to engage in armed hostilities by joining the front line."
Ms Taylor said Mohamed was using alleged Sydney-based recruiter Hamdi Al Qudsi to help get to Syria.
"We suggest to you that Mr Mohamed was not some naive innocent who thought that he was doing good works and may later have found out that he was destined for the front line."
When Mohamed was stopped at Brisbane international airport on September 22, 2013, after his New Zealand passport had been cancelled, he claimed he was on his way to Denmark via Turkey to meet his fiancee, whom he had never met.
The Crown case against Mohamed hinged on intercepted phone calls recorded by police between him and Mr Al Qudsi about travelling to Syria to fight the Assad government.
Mohamed, who worked as a customer services officer at Couriers Please in Port Melbourne, told the jury his only plan was to move to Syria and help people there as it was his destiny as part of his religion.
Defence barrister Julian McMahon said Mohamed never talked about beheading people or blowing people up during his conversations with Mr Al Qudsi.
'You don't see him engaging in prolonged Jihadist pro-death, pro-martyr, pro-beheading kind of conversations because that's not what's happening in his head, and that's where you have to go, into his head.
"He made it pretty plain to you that at times he was using Al Qudsi. He didn't interrupt the flow [of conversation between them] because it would interrupt his destiny of getting there.
"You've got to look at the culture and the religion and the personalities and so on.
"You could disbelieve every single word my client said and regard him as the most villainous, most intelligent, lying ratbag you've ever come across and still find him not guilty because the Crown have to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
"Just because you say he lied once or 10 times, always, that actually doesn't prove whether or not he's guilty or not."
A pre-sentence hearing for Mohamed will be held on December 1.