Australians Charged under Outdated Law for Terrorist Activities
Wednesday 17 September 2014 @ 11.48 a.m. | Crime
Suspected Australian terrorists, Omar Succarieh, 31, and Agim Kruezi, 21, have been accused of recruiting for the jihadist Islamic State (IS) and obtaining funds to fight in Syria. They are both charged under the Crimes (Foreign Incursion and Recruitment) Act 1978 (Cth) for making funds available to terrorist organisation Jabhat al-Nusra from August 2013 and up to the time of arrest.
Background
Resulting from a year-long investigation conducted by Queensland State and Australian Federal police agencies, a raid was conducted on the Logan Islamic Centre Bookshop resulting in the arrest of Succarieh and Kruezi on 12 September 2014. Succarieh was exclusively identified by The Courier-Mail as being the suspected brother of Australia’s first suicide bomber in Syria.
Along with charges pertaining to the collection of funds for terrorist organisations, they have both been charged with the preparation for the incursion into Syria with the intention of engaging in hostile activities.
Investigations are still continuing at the moment, but so far, police have confirmed that at present, there are no more suspects involved in these criminal acts.
Crimes (Foreign Incursion and Recruitment) Act 1978
The Act under which the suspects are charged contains outdated laws not designed to deal with this scenario, says University of Sydney international law professor, Ben Saul.
The law was originally drafted after a royal commission into intelligence and security and was primarily concerned with the rise of mercenaries in places like Africa and other decolonisation struggles throughout the world. Professor Saul describes the law’s ban on Australia giving support to non-state militia groups is inconsistent with the current Australian backed US plans to back moderate rebel groups in Syria as part of the wider plan to eliminate IS.
Bail Hearing
Succarieh’s application for bail before the Supreme Court of Queensland is scheduled to be heard at 10am on the 18 September 2014.
In his affidavit revealed by his defence lawyer, Succarieh is portrayed as an honest family man who has run several businesses before setting up the Islamic Centre at Logan in March of this year. Succarieh states that his misses his family enormously and is prepared to meet several conditions in the event that bail is granted.
In the meantime, Succarieh and Kruezi are being held at the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre in Wacol.
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