[JURIST] The New South Wales Supreme Court on Monday sentenced five men for conspiring to commit acts of terrorism. The five men are Australian citizens from Sydney and are of Lebanese, Libyan, and Bangladeshi descent. The lead conspirator and his lieutenant were sentenced to 28 years in prison, while the other three involved in the plot received between 23 and 26 years, all of which were to be dated from the time of their arrest in 2005. The men had pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charges at the beginning of the 10-month trial, the longest in Australian history. During the trial, the prosecution charged that the five men wanted to terrorize the Australian public in retaliation for Australian involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It was also charged that one of the men was trained in Pakistan by Lashkar-e-Taiba, and three others were taken into the Australian outback and trained in a paramilitary-like camp. Although their target was unspecified, testimony during trial alleged that the conspirators considered attacking a football game and killing former prime minister John Howard.
The five men were convicted of conspiracy to do acts in preparation of terrorist attacks in October. The men, who could not be named publicly, were found guilty of having stockpiled ammunition and bomb-making materials. Four co-conspirators had previously pleaded guilty to related charges, although this information was kept from the jury during the trial. The five faced a maximum of life in prison. The jury returned the convictions after deliberating for 23 days, hearing from 300 witnesses, and examining 3,000 exhibits, which included 30 days of video surveillance and 18 hours of taped phone calls. The men were arrested in a series of raids in 2005.