Country electrician who designed missiles for the Islamic State jailed for six years

An electrician who researched and developed missile detection methods for Islamic State with ‘unwavering focus’ has been jailed for at least six years and nine months.

Australian citizen Haisem Zahab, 44, was sentenced to nine years with a non-parole period of six years and nine months at NSW Supreme Court on Friday.

He spent three years helping ISIS from his home in Young, rural New South Wales before he was arrested in February 2017.

Zahab pleaded guilty to knowingly providing support or resources to a terrorist organisation in 2018.

Diagrams and computer designs reveal his research was into the development of a laser warning receiver, rockets and rocket guidance for IS.

The tradesman also admitted to failing to comply with an order to assist access by police to encrypted data on his phone and other devices.

Zahab tested hobby rockets in his garden after becoming fascinated by them.

He installed solar panels for a living, sent his research to a member of ISIS in the UK via encrypted software.

The Muslim man has now abandoned his extremist views.

He said he was in a cult of IS supporters and was ‘hoodwinked’ about IS news until taken into custody.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Bellew said Zahab’s research was secretive and sophisticated, carried out ‘with unwavering focus, at all times intent upon assisting IS in its involvement in armed and violent hostilities overseas’.

Justice Bellew rejected Zahab’s claim he genuinely believed IS was ‘a force of good’ at the time of his offending, describing the proposition as ‘fanciful in the extreme’.

Zahab’s sentence was backdated to his arrest in early 2017, meaning he’ll be eligible for parole from December 2023.

Source: Daily Mail