Man from Auckland sentenced to twelve months supervision for Islamic State propaganda material
An Auckland man guilty of possessing Isis propaganda which promoted terrorism has been sentenced to one year of supervision.
The man, who has name suppression, faced trial at the High Court at Auckland where a jury found him guilty of two charges of possessing objectionable publications and failing to comply with a search.
He was acquitted of a third charge, possessing another objectionable publication – a video showing people being killed – and also acquitted of possessing a knife without lawful authority.
On Tuesday, Justice Sally Fitzgerald sentenced him to 12 months supervision with a number of special conditions imposed.
The publications have been classified as objectionable by the Chief Censor for promoting acts of terrorism, extreme violence and cruelty.
The Crown’s case at trial were these particular nasheeds – vocal music or chants were “clearly designed” to inspire and celebrate the cause of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis).
One of the nasheeds showed a single still image of a figure carrying a machine gun and the Isis flag with the lyrics referencing violent acts, including decapitation and terrorism.
The second nasheed explicitly encouraged terrorist attacks on the countries of other belief systems.
Justice Fitzgerald agreed with the Chief Censor’s view of the nasheeds and she did not accept the man was simply listening to them to improve his Arabic language skills.
She disagreed the man had just “stumbled” across the nasheeds.
The judge said the man’s internet activity suggested he had an operative interest in Isis.
A pre-sentence report writer concluded the man supports the goals of Isis and is of a high risk of reoffending and a harm to others.
The risk factors include the man’s extreme attitudes, sense of entitlement and isolated lifestyle, Justice Fitzgerald said.
The man’s special conditions on supervision means he is prohibited from possessing any electronic device capable of accessing the internet, apart from a pre-approved device.
He is also required to surrender his devices and social media for probation and police checks.
Crown prosecutor Henry Steele acknowledged the man had spent a long time in custody and suggested the appropriate sentence was one of intensive supervision.
“He has been a real concern to the Crown for a number of years and those concerns remain.”
This is essentially repeat offending, and he has had not opportunity to access rehabilitation, Steele said.
Kieran Raftery QC said his client said ‘allah has now spoken’, and he had asked him to guide the jury’s deliberations.
“There has been condemnation in terms of the two nasheeds,” Raftery QC said.
While attitudes towards authorities may have hardened there is hope he will make progress in the community with probation officers, the defence lawyer said.
Raftery QC said his client felt a “strong sense of justice” having been convicted of possessing the two nasheeds.
At trial, the man took to the stand in his own defence claiming he was only learning about his religion and he was put in jail because he is Muslim.
His internet search history and bookmarks included: Islamic State dress, New Zealand prison clothes and food, improvised explosive devices, heroes of Isis, and an Isis-issued booklet on how to avoid being detected by Western security.
The defendant told the jury his internet searches were simply him checking on something he had read on the news.
He also said his search which included the keywords: “Captive by the enemies of Allah”, was only used to check his spelling.
The man has previously been charged for possessing publications of similar nature.
He was arrested in 2017 after police became concerned about his internet activity and he was eventually charged with a number of offences relating to distributing objectionable material and was held in custody.
He admitted the charges of possessing restricted material and was subsequently bailed, before he was re-arrested on the current charges.
Source: National Stuff
