Australian authorities jailed Sydney man who planned to fight for the Islamic State

A Sydney man who planned to fight for Islamic State overseas has been jailed for at least four years.

Amin Elmir, 29, pleaded guilty in February to preparing to travel from Turkey to Syria for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities for IS between April and June 2016.

Elmir refused to stand for the judge at the NSW Supreme Court today and was sentenced to five years and five months jail with a non-parole period of four years and one month.

Born and raised in Australia, Elmir travelled to Turkey following a disagreement with his family while they were returning from a religious pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the court heard.

Upon arrival in Istanbul, Elmir stayed in an IS safe house, obtained 70 kilograms of military equipment and sought help from others to help him cross the border into Syria, the agreed facts state.

However, his plans fell apart following a theological argument with others in the safe house.
Social media messages sent to a man in Australia at the time of the argument, revealed Elmir believed Muslims should not excuse “unbelievers based on their perceived ignorance” – something others in the safe house disagreed with.

“What am I gonna do if this is Islamic State creed, it’s apostasy,” he said in one message.
“I can cross the border (at) dawn but what’s the point … the Islamic State is nice and all but I’m not (going there) to pretend to be Muslim.”

Justice David Davies described the argument as essentially coming down to the fact that “those at the safe house did not, as far as the offender was concerned, hold sufficiently extreme views against Muslims who were prepared to make allowance for non-believers”.

After Elmir was kicked out of the safe house he was arrested by Turkish police and deported to Australia. He arrived home on July 1, 2016 and was arrested by police five months later.

Source: 9News