Syrian battle 'commander' jailed for helping men to fight with IS
A Sydney man has been jailed for at least six years for arranging for seven would-be 'martyrs' to reach Syria so they could fight alongside Australian terrorist Mohammad Ali Baryalei.
Hamdi Alqudsi was found guilty in July of organising for the men to make a border crossing from Turkey and meet up with the notorious ISIS fighter between June and October 2013.
Hamdi Alqudsi has been found guilty of arranging for men to travel to Syria in 2013. Photo: AAP
He was the first man to be prosecuted under federal foreign incursion laws.
Alqudsi held up his index finger in the dock after NSW Supreme Court Justice Christine Adamson handed down her sentence on Thursday.
Two women dressed in floor-length niqabs wept quietly in the public gallery of the Parramatta courtroom.
One is believed to be Alqudsi's wife, the other a woman he reportedly regards as his second 'wife' who he lived with part-time before he was taken into custody.
At least two of the men Alqudsi assisted are presumed dead, though the 42-year-old has previously told the court he had never made any attempt to learn if the seven men he assisted were still alive.
The former security guard tearfully told a sentencing hearing last month that he did not realise he was breaking the law when he helped send young men to their deaths but that he now felt "immense regret" at what he had done.
"I am not persuaded that the offender is either contrite or remorseful, although he is obviously sorry that his actions have resulted in adverse consequences for himself and his family," Justice Adamson said.
"I do not regard his prospects for rehabilitation as good."
Justice Adamson sentenced Alqudsi to an aggregate imprisonment term of eight years.
Alleged terror suspect Hamdi Alqudsi in July, 2015. Source: AAP
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Justice Adamson said the offender had taken on the role of "commander" or "big brother" to the men he helped send abroad, and that when associates spoke in code of a "soccer game that required able players", they dubbed Alqudsi its "coach".
The trial heard of a cache of tapped phone calls between Alqudsi and men on the Syrian frontline.
In one of these calls from the battlefield, Baryalei allegedly wept as he wondered aloud why anyone would want to live in "this rubbish", telling Alqudsi: "I don't want to be here, man, I'm over it."
However, moments later the former Kings Cross bouncer praised God for the gruesome deaths of his rival fighters in a tank he claimed exploded "20 times over".
Photo: 7 News
"This conversation shows that the offender knew that by sending the men to Mr Baryalei, he was sending them to fight," Justice Adamson said.
When Alqudsi heard reports of Baryalei's death - reports that turned out to be premature - he told the man's wife: "It's not easy alright, but this is why the boys went."
Alqudsi will become eligible for parole in 2022.
