Born: 1990;

Place of Birth: Melbourne, Australia;

Gender: Male;

Nationality: Australian;

General Info:
Khaled Temssah is a 31-year-old man from Melbourne who pleaded guilty in Victoria’s County Court to once count of preparing in June 2019 to travel to the contested Kashmir region to engage in hostile activity.

The Melbourne used car salesman now says he was radicalised through charity work after being exposed to the suffering of women and children in Kashmir.

“How to join the Islamic State” and “what part of Yemen is Islamic State in” are some of the things Khaled Temssah wanted to know while organising to buy an AK-47 through undercover police.

He told an undercover operative posting as an extremist on Wickr he wanted to join the Islamic State to “fight the idol worshipper tyrant”.

“I love Allah. I want to be in paradise and the best thing I can do for my family is to die a martyr,” Temssah said.

He met another undercover officer at a service station and handed over $880 for what he thought was an AK-47 and travel costs.

Temssah told the first operative he knew “a little bit of martial arts” and had used a rifle for hunting.

He downloaded a document that advised him, if questioned or caught, to say he was simply moved by videos of people suffering abroad and wanted to help.

In court, Temssah said he became radicalised through his involvement in charity projects, initially Melbourne-based and then focused overseas.

He watched videos including of beheadings and Osama bin Laden speeches. Temssah also booked a flight to and a hotel in New Delhi and told the undercover officer it was a ruse.

He added he’d changed his tune since his arrest and now considered Islamic State as having “an evil agenda to push”.

Temssah was remanded in custody to reappear for a further plea on August 30.