<< IF ONLY "LARVATUS PRODEO" WAS A BAND ~ MAIN ~ DON'T EVEN ASK HOW THEY LIT THE TORCH >>

STAND TAKEN

Supreme Court judge Anthony Whealy sends Faheem Khalid Lodhi away for 20 years:

Sentencing Lodhi, 36 of Lakemba, to a maximum term of 20 years, with a 15-year non-parole period, Justice Anthony Whealy said while there was little case law to guide him, the courts must take a stand against terrorism.

“It may be argued that the imposition of stern penalties, in the context of firm denunciatory statements, will not in fact deter those whose religious and political ideologies are extreme and fanatical. But a stand must be taken,’’ he said.

“The community is owed this protection even if the obstinancy and madness of extreme views may mean that the protection is a fragile and uncertain one.’‘

Well said. Congratulations to Razor for coming closest to tipping this result.

UPDATE. AAP—which is disinclined to examine matters of race and religion—reports:

An architect has been jailed for at least 15 years after becoming the first person convicted of planning a terrorist attack on Australian soil.

UPDATE II. Meanwhile, in the UK:

A woman with an eight-month-old child and her husband appeared in court yesterday among 11 people charged in connection with a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners.

Posted by Tim B. on 08/23/2006 at 01:03 AM
  1. He was also sentenced on two other charges,it’s a pity that we don’t often see sentences being made cumulative in Australia otherwise this hero of the Religion of the Perpetually Outraged might have finished up doing 30 plus.

    Posted by Lew on 2006 08 23 at 01:18 AM • permalink

  2. Excellent. I’d still like more, e.g. a firing squad or pork bomb, but compared to other recent judgements this is a real triumph.

    Posted by russell2pi on 2006 08 23 at 01:19 AM • permalink

  3. I dont want to rain on the parade but there will be an appeal ...

    Posted by lingus4 on 2006 08 23 at 01:24 AM • permalink

  4. Messrs Howard and Ruddock take note: I think we have found and excellent candidate for the High Court when Michael Kirby finally goes…

    Posted by Apparatchik on 2006 08 23 at 01:27 AM • permalink

  5. But a stand must be taken

    My God, what beauty and majesty in those words.

    But a stand must be taken

    But, but, but, but, but…

    But a stand must be taken

    Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon - danger, hardship, crazed implacable foes, the possibility of death, but, in the face of all that…

    But a stand must be taken

    Posted by Apparatchik on 2006 08 23 at 01:32 AM • permalink

  6. Do we all remember the Bali Bombers who just couldn’t wait to get amongst Allah’s Virgins?

    Well, they appealed yesterday against their death sentences that were to be carried out this morning. If things had gone to plan, they’d be rompin’ with them virgins right about now.

    Obviously, one of two things happened here. 1) They don’t really believe all that 72 virgins crap, and or 2), they’re really chicken shit cowards as afraid of death as all the other chicken shit cowards

    Posted by Bonmot on 2006 08 23 at 01:38 AM • permalink

  7. ....oh, and well done to Judge Anthony Whealy. We need a few more of him.

    Posted by Bonmot on 2006 08 23 at 01:41 AM • permalink

  8. Well the result was right in the end, but what a load of codswallop lead up to it…  Sounds like he was almost trying to talk himself out of the sentence…  I mean exactly who is saying that

    “stern penalties, in the context of firm denunciatory statements, will not in fact deter those whose religious and political ideologies are extreme and fanatical”????

    Only a bunch of collaborationist, Western freedom hating, apologist academics or a minute amount of leftie, wet blanket sociologists/psychologists.

    The overwheling majority of the public would be saying stiff penalties are EXACTLY what is needed (finally!!!), perhaps with a deportation at the end of it, and then you would have more than a few suggesting what goes around should come around, and an even stronger measure involving a noose or a firing squad would do just nicely…

    So why even come out with all that crap, unless he was trying to suggest a defence strategy for the appeal process, or to provide a possible excuse some lamo lefty judge might choose to use to reduce the sentence to a good behaviour bond on appeal???

    Posted by casanova on 2006 08 23 at 01:44 AM • permalink

  9. Don’t get too excited- wait until the nervous nellies on the Court of Appeal get a chance to get their frilly knickers in a knot over this.

    Does the term manifestly excessive ring any bells?

    Posted by Habib on 2006 08 23 at 01:45 AM • permalink

  10. Oh the backlash, think of the backlash, Muslims in Australia must be preparing for the backlash.

    Posted by spyder on 2006 08 23 at 01:55 AM • permalink

  11. Who will say “This will further alienate and/or radicalise disaffected Muslim youth” first?

    Posted by Honkie Hammer on 2006 08 23 at 02:06 AM • permalink

  12. An appeal will be launched claiming the court wasn’t facing Mecca so all evidence is inadmissable. or something.

    Posted by The Prez on 2006 08 23 at 02:12 AM • permalink

  13. Thanks for that Tim.  I got the Baptist one rigth, too.

    Please note that I subscribed to The Bulletin about one week before you announced your departure.

    Posted by Razor on 2006 08 23 at 02:33 AM • permalink

  14. Jesus Christ - “right”

    Posted by Razor on 2006 08 23 at 02:35 AM • permalink

  15. First words of smh story:

    “Accused terrorist Faheem Khalid Lodhi…”

    Um, shouldn’t that be “Convicted terrorist”??
    “Accused” sounds like there’s still some doubt in the matter.
    Almost as soft as “Alleged”.

    Since the sentence is now handed down, “Convicted” is on
    the money. Must be too painful for SMH to use those words.

    Posted by scooper on 2006 08 23 at 02:35 AM • permalink

  16. #15
    True, scooper.  He was convicted in June.

    But it’s the SMH we’re talking about here…

    Posted by HisHineness on 2006 08 23 at 02:56 AM • permalink

  17. I hope he will get his balls tampered with in jail.  Hopefully with a cricket bat.

    Posted by Howzat on 2006 08 23 at 03:00 AM • permalink

  18. Please note that I subscribed to The Bulletin about one week before you announced your departure.

    Yep. So did I. A deal involving an Optus contract extension. Someone must have known something.

    Posted by geoff on 2006 08 23 at 03:44 AM • permalink

  19. My guess is that the sentence will survive the appeals.

    There can be no doubt what this guy was up to. There can be little doubt of the consequences had he succeeded.

    Public expectations are clear.

    And not even the most ratbag liberal Judge can deny that there is an on-going threat. Or that this fellow is an obvious threat if loose.

    My call is that he is out of circulation for fifteen years. But will be full-time active in the prison converting others to the Jihadist cause. Especially if the Judge’s foolish recommendation about confinement conditions is accepted.

    Posted by geoff on 2006 08 23 at 03:58 AM • permalink

  20. hello geoff…this is earth…

    Posted by murph on 2006 08 23 at 04:00 AM • permalink

  21. “And not even the most ratbag liberal Judge can deny that there is an on-going threat.”
    Are you kidding Geoff? Those bastards will still be denying the threat when their missus is in a burqa and they’re wiping their bum with their left hand.
    (or is it right hand? I’m not too familiar with primitive customs)

    Posted by Crusader rabbit on 2006 08 23 at 04:09 AM • permalink

  22. An architect has been jailed for at least 15 years after becoming the first person convicted of planning a terrorist attack on Australian soil.

    He specialised in deconstructivism.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 08 23 at 04:09 AM • permalink

  23. Get this guy on the High Court.

    Posted by Oafish and Infantile on 2006 08 23 at 04:12 AM • permalink

  24. O/T

    Tim,

    I’m surprised that you are yet to address the fact that Darrell Hair has now joined the Bu$h, BLiar, HoWARd Axis of Neo-Con Racist Evil by penalising Pakistan 5 runs for screwing with the ball.

    Posted by murph on 2006 08 23 at 04:14 AM • permalink

  25. ARREST ALL ARCHITECTS!!!

    Posted by murph on 2006 08 23 at 04:42 AM • permalink

  26. I can see this overturning on appeal.

    Dhimmi court cant prosecute a mussielamb. It’s against the shary laws.

    And, according to the shary laws, a mussielamb cant be punished for killing a dhimmi, except to pay blood money. And a dhimmi is only worth half the value of a mussielamb.

    So, gotta respect the man’s culture, dontcha know?!?
    Set him free!
    Set him free!
    So he can get done killing thee!

    Posted by Grimmy on 2006 08 23 at 04:44 AM • permalink

  27. #25 murph:

    ARREST ALL ARCHITECTS!

    I think that was a misprint. Supposed to have been AntiChrist.

    Posted by Grimmy on 2006 08 23 at 04:46 AM • permalink

  28. ‘An architect ...’ 

    The masks fall away and all is revealed.

    The Freemasons!

    Posted by Inurbanus on 2006 08 23 at 05:06 AM • permalink

  29. This is a doubly important sentence. As it is the first conviction and sentence for this offence it becomes the precedent. Any other convictions must take the 20 year term as their starting point and work either up or down on the scale of seriousness.
    The high court could modify it on appeal but the precedent should stand.
    He was caught , by all reports, early on in his plan, and without having injured anyone yet.
    Someone caught whith an assembled device, martyrdom video, etc should be looking at a lot harsher sentence than this. The judge has done a good service to the community by setting the bar this high.

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2006 08 23 at 05:08 AM • permalink

  30. An architect ... from a broad strata title of society?

    Posted by blogstrop on 2006 08 23 at 05:24 AM • permalink

  31. Laugh while you can infidels. 

    The jihadi’s wife will be supported by you.  She will also get an extra payment because her husband is behind bars. 

    This announcement sponsored by a caring, sharing, diversity embracing and culturally sensitive Centrelink.  Recommended and approved by all state and federal governments.

    Posted by HRT1009 on 2006 08 23 at 05:41 AM • permalink

  32. The thing is Lodhi wasn’t even an architect. Its not clear but he was probably trained as an architect in Pakistan, worked in an Australian architectural firm, but wasn’t a registered Architect.

    Posted by WeekByWeek on 2006 08 23 at 05:49 AM • permalink

  33. #32 Yes, but

    The media are so quick to tell us that these people are Muslim but the bleedin’ obvious - no.  Come on, this thing has ‘architect’ written all over it.

    Posted by Inurbanus on 2006 08 23 at 06:00 AM • permalink

  34. I once hired an architect like that.

    The bastard charged me six thousand dollars for some “concept” sketches of a house extension.

    It wouldn’t surprise me at all if his next job was a plan to blow up the Harbour Bridge.

    Posted by geoff on 2006 08 23 at 06:22 AM • permalink

  35. Will this deter terrorists more than a lesser sentence would? Probably not, what the judge said seems like commonsense to me.

    Will this deter their supporters? Maybe, probably yes. Still deterrence will only play a secondary role in stopping terrorism, at least until terrorism is seen as having little chance of achieving its aims.

    Will this sentence incapacitate him. Obviously yes. He won’t be able to make or plant bombs while in prison. We do have to stop him from recruiting while in prison.

    Does he deserve it? Yes.

    Posted by Lloyd Flack on 2006 08 23 at 06:26 AM • permalink

  36. Stop whining. I bought a two year sub to the Bulletin a few months ago. And I didn’t get any freebies with it, either.

    bugger.

    Most times it’s not too bad, better than ‘Time’. (Ok, ok, I know it wouldn’t take much to be better than that, but…)

    Returning to topic:

    Glad he’s got 20 years.

    But I’m with Habib, let’s see what happens on appeal. Manifestly wotsit sounds like it. Or it will be quashed for some obscure reason.

    The police must be spewing about all their hard work on the Jihad Jack case.

    And back off topic, TV is on in the background. Who gives a rat’s about Jessica Rowe and Peter Overton’s Baby heartache?

    Posted by kae on 2006 08 23 at 07:31 AM • permalink

  37. And back off topic, TV is on in the background. Who gives a rat’s about Jessica Rowe and Peter Overton’s Baby heartache?

    Don’t feel bad…we’re on the cusp of ALL-JoanBenetRamsey-ALL-THE-TIME.  The Jihadi’s don’t have a chance with the media for about 6 months.

    My head aches just to think about it.

    Posted by trainer on 2006 08 23 at 08:33 AM • permalink

  38. It’s true what they say.

    As an impressionable teenager, disastisfied with my lot, I joined the Archtects, a secretive group of professionals that tightly control entrance to their various groups - the Landscapers, civil engineeers, the heaters and ventilators, structurals.

    You can always spot an operation going into effect as they send in a brigade of surveyors to perform a reccy of the target. These people are intent on the destruction of buildings in downotwns to be replaced by their own totatliatarian buildings.

    Fortunately, I escaped the grip of this cult by my twenties.

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2006 08 23 at 10:29 AM • permalink

  39. However Justice Whealy said Lodhi’s mind was firmly fixed on his extremist view of “violent jihad’’ which was “not representative of the true nature of his Islamic religion’‘.

    Oh, it’s all right to thrown in the standard disclaimer—as long as it’s accompanied by a multi-decade incarceration.

    Posted by Patricia on 2006 08 23 at 11:01 AM • permalink

  40. BTW, is there something missing from this story about the RSL flag burning left out by the Silly Moaning Hilmer?
    http://tinyurl.com/pwn3x

    Posted by andycanuck on 2006 08 23 at 05:20 PM • permalink

  41. I remember David Marr being very excited about how poorly the prosecution of Lohdi was going; all they had was that he got or tried to got a few things using a false name etc.

    I look forward to Marr and his mates campaigning to make it our constitutional right to prepare for terrorism in this way.

    What an appropriate sentence, I figured 3-4 years tops.

    Posted by Bozo on 2006 08 23 at 06:01 PM • permalink

  42. where is the comment from keysar trad on victimisation of this poor chap for naievely copying out a terrorist manual to practice his urdu calligraphy?

    Posted by KK on 2006 08 24 at 10:39 AM • permalink

  43. Page 1 of 1 pages

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

Members:
Login | Register | Member List

Please note: you must use a real email address to register. You will be sent an account activation email. Clicking on the url in the email will automatically activate your account. Until you do so your account will be held in the "pending" list and you won't be able to log in. All accounts that are "pending" for more than one week will be deleted.