ISIS bomber who plotted to blow up an Etihad plane packed with Australians is sentenced to death in Iraq

An Islamic State commander who had been accused of conspiring with his Sydney-based brothers to blow up a plane last year has been sentenced to death in Iraq for his role with the jihadist organisation.

Tarek Khayat, 46, admitted to being a financial officer for the terror group Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria, and was ordered to face death by hanging.

Moments after he received his sentence, Khayat told Newscorp he was not involved in the plot to bring down an Etihad flight, departing Sydney in July last year, and said reports of his alleged involvement were ‘propaganda’.

Khayat, whose left foot and lower leg were blown off in the conflict, was not charged in Iraq over the alleged plot in Australia.

In court, he complained about pain in his leg and said he may have suffered an infection but was not receiving appropriate medication.

Khayat is cousins with Sydney man Ahmed Merhi, a former Granville High School student, who travelled to Syria in 2015.

He also has Australian brothers, but the Lebanese citizen with a wife and six children told the court he is not Australian.

Khayat moved to the Islamic State headquarters of Raqqa after fleeing Tripoli, Lebanon, due to ‘troubles’.

His brother Amer Khayat, a dual Australian-Lebanese national, is facing the death penalty in Lebanon, and is accused of attempting to bring down an Etihad Airways flight by hiding bombs in a meat mincer and a Barbie doll.

Sydney brothers Khaled Khayat of Lakemba and Mahmoud Khayat of Punchbowl have been ordered to stand trial in March 2019 for their alleged involvement in the plane plot, which would have been Australia’s worst ever terror attack.

Khayat’s death penalty will be appealed under Iraqi law and most executions in Iraq are carried out at the Nasariyah Central Prison in Iraq.

Source: Daily Mail