A jury convicted a seventh man Tuesday of being a member of an Australian terrorist cell that prosecutors said plotted to attack major sporting events in a bid to kill thousands of people.
No attack took place, but prosecutors said the group, based in Australia's second-largest city of Melbourne, had identified railway stations and sports fields as possible targets for "violent jihad."
During the long-running trial, prosecutors said the group had talked about attacking a football final that attracts close to 100,000 people each year, or the Formula One Grand Prix race held annually in the southern city.
They also discussed killing former Prime Minister John Howard, who ordered Australian troops to join the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, prosecutors alleged.
Amer Haddara was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury one day after six others _ including the group's Muslim cleric leader _ were convicted of being part of the cell in the country's largest terrorist trial.
Haddara, 28, was found not guilty on a second charge of possessing a computer linked with preparations for a terrorist act.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict on another defendant, Shane Kent, who will face a retrial.
The convicted men _ all of whom pleaded not guilty _ have yet to be sentenced. They face maximum sentences of life in prison. Four other men were acquitted in the 115-day trial.
The mufti of Australia, Sheik Fehmi Naji El-Imam, said in a statement that the Islamic community was relieved that the trial was over.
"The reaction from the Muslim community to the verdicts is one of mixed emotions, as many people know of these men and empathize with the hardship that their families have endured to date and will continue to endure beyond today," he said in a lengthy statement.
Prosecutors said cell leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika, a 48-year-old Algerian-born cleric, urged his followers to launch an attack to force the Australian government to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and Iraq and that at an attack needed to kill at least 1,000 people to achieve this aim.
