An Afghan teenager who admitted planning a mass casualty Islamic terror attack at the Sydney Opera House has been spared jail after a judge found he was almost completely deradicalised.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, appeared in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday where Justice Stephen Campbell sentenced him to a three-year community correction order.
He was arrested at his family home in western Sydney in August 2024, and in August this year pleaded guilty to preparing for or planning a terrorist act, an offence which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The court heard that the then-14-year-old used Telegram to seek instructions on how to make a pressure cooker bomb, attempted to contact the surviving Boston marathon bomber, and researched target locations including the finish line of the Sydney Marathon at the Opera House.
He also shared videos of jihadist terror attacks, which the court heard were mainly produced by Islamic State propagandist units, but also by Al Qaeda.
The teenager told the court he was exposed to “extremist material” through social media, beginning with TikTok, that he felt he had been “brainwashed”, and that he had “no concrete plan for committing an act in place, nor had he set any date for the perpetration of any act of violence”, Justice Campbell noted.
When asked in cross-examination “did you want to commit an act of terrorism?” he replied “to a certain extent, fifty: fifty”. But he said he no longer wanted to commit terrorist acts, and when asked why not, replied: “I have aged. I am matured. I was deradicalised.”
He also said he was “fifty: fifty” about wanting to hurt or kill lots of people at the Opera House, even though he was telling his online contacts that he was going to carry out an attack, and admitted that if he had not been arrested he “probably could have acted out… an actual act of violence possible – probably”.
The court heard the teenager was born in Australia to an Afghan refugee father and immigrant mother, both of whom fled Afghanistan because they were being persecuted due to their Hazara ethnicity and Shia Muslim faith.
He told the court his motivation for planning the attack related to Australia and the United States’ part in the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, but that he was also “hesitant” about following through with his plan.
Justice Campbell found that the teenager’s plan was “not sophisticated”, that he did not cover his tracks, that there was “no evidence of him planning an imminent attack”, and that “there is very little chance of the young person offending in a like manner, or at all, again”.
“I accept his evidence that he was hesitant, at best, ‘fifty: fifty’ about whether he would take any further step. He was not prepared to commit a terrorist act until he had constructed and tested a device, and he had taken no practical steps in that direction,” he said in sentencing.
“He was fearful of the consequences for himself and for others. He was certainly not inclined to achieve martyrdom and did not want to go to prison.”
The court heard the teenager underwent six sessions of religious and ethical training in the community from a Muslim cleric, who testified that the teenager “is not presently presenting as someone who is committed to extremist ideology”.
Justice Campbell said he accepted the teenager was “radicalised to a degree, but that the process of deradicalisation is well advanced”, and accepted the Muslim cleric’s assessment that “deradicalisation is a process which is not yet complete in the young person’s case, especially as his resolve is yet to be tried in the wider community”.
Prosecutors argued that no sentence other than full-time imprisonment was appropriate, but Justice Campbell disagreed.
“In my judgment the community’s interests are best protected by ensuring that the young person continues his positive trajectory towards complete deradicalisation and rehabilitation,” he said.
“I am satisfied these aims will be much better enhanced by him remaining in the community under the supervision of Youth Justice rather than detained in a juvenile justice centre.”
Under the community correction order the teenager is only allowed one mobile phone and SIM card, must provide his passwords to authorities, and cannot use any encrypted devices or applications, and must provide access and passwords or PINs to any internet capable devices in his possession.
Header image: The Sydney Marathon at the Opera House (Sports Tours International).
