In a statement to the court, Succarieh said as a young Muslim man he felt targeted by authorities, particularly after his brother’s death.
Note the same victimology narrative we have seen in so many cases: a jihadi claims that he was unjustifiably targeted by authorities deemed to an enemy to the jihad cause. Omar Succarieh’s younger brother, Ahmed, blew himself up in a jihad martyrdom suicide attack after leaving Australia five months earlier, and it emerged in court proceedings that “faith drove him [Succarieh] to help those trying to establish a state governed by Islamic law in Syria”. It is rare to see a frank admission of how the Islamic faith serves as a powerful impetus in the jihadist drive to conquer the “house of war”.
Note also that Justice Atkinson stated that “the Muslim community is harmed by your offences because of the fear of them that it might engender in people thinking that you represent the Muslim community, which you most certainly don’t”. While Succarieh obviously does not represent every member of the Muslim community, normative Islam as seen in Islamic states still supports practices that are contrary to human rights (such as the oppression of women, beheadings, the amputation of hands, and the murder of gays and apostates) and democratic institutions; while mainstream mosques on Western soil as well as mainstream Islamic groups are frequently linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and/or the propagation of jihadist messages.
“Islamic bookshop owner jailed for financing Syrian fight”, New Daily, November 2, 2016:
A Queensland Islamic bookstore owner has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail for sending money overseas to his brother fighting against the Assad regime in Syria.
Omar Succarieh, 33, last month pleaded guilty to four foreign incursion charges after the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions dropped more serious terror-related offences against him.
The Australian-born Succarieh, who has been in custody since he was arrested in a series of counter-terrorism raids in September 2014, was sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday.
He was given a non-parole period of three years, meaning he will be eligible for release in late 2017.
Justice Roslyn Atkinson said there was no suggestion Succarieh had encouraged or considered terrorist activity in Australia but his actions had damaged the social cohesion of the community.
“The Muslim community is harmed by your offences because of the fear of them that it might engender in people thinking that you represent the Muslim community, which you most certainly don’t,” Justice Atkinson said.
Succarieh’s younger brother, Ahmed, blew himself up in a suicide attack on September 11, 2013 in the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor after leaving Australia five months earlier.
In a statement to the court, Succarieh said as a young Muslim man he felt targeted by authorities, particularly after his brother’s death.
Covertly recorded conversations taken by Australian Federal Police captured Succarieh’s cryptic conversations with his other brother Abraham, who was in Syria fighting alongside terror group Jabhat al-Nusra.
The pair described cash and quantity in the terms of “sweets” and “kilos” to arrange for Succarieh to send Abraham a total of $US43,700 in early 2014.
Succarieh also gave $7700 to an Australian-born citizen of Albanian descent and Muslim Sunni faith to travel overseas in an alleged attempt to join the fight.
The court heard Succarieh’s faith drove him to help those trying to establish a state governed by Islamic law in Syria.
He also wanted to help his brother, who he believed was in a “life or death” situation.
“I will forever be known as the accused terrorist who owned the bookstore,” Succarieh said.
Justice Atinkson said Succarieh knew what he was doing was illegal because he had been warned by AFP about participating in overseas conflicts when they stopped him at Brisbane Airport on the way to a holiday in Lebanon in August 2013…..