By Thomas Hunter
One of the Melbourne men charged with preparing a terrorist act has directed an angry outburst at the magistrate hearing his case this morning.
WissamMahmoud Fattal, 33, told the Melbourne Magistrates Court he was not aterrorist and accused Australian troops of killing innocent peopleoverseas.
"You call me a terrorist but I've never killed anyone in my life," Fattal told magistrate Peter Reardon.
"You send troops to Iraq to kill innocent people."
Fattal,who was already in custody on unrelated matters and is charged withconspiring to prepare a terrorist act, refused to stand before MrReardon, saying it was against his religious beliefs. But themagistrate did not accept the principle that it was a religious act.
AbdirahmanAhmed, Yacqub Khayre and Saney Edow Aweyz also faced court today. All three are charged with conspiring to prepare a terroristattack.
Ahmed is also charged with breaching the Foreign Incursions andRecruitment Act, and engaging in a hostile act in a foreign country.Aweyz is facing two additional charges.
The men were arrested yesterday after pre-dawn raids on 19properties across Melbourne and regional Victoria foiled an allegedplot to attack the Holsworthy army base.
All of the men were remanded in custody to reappear on October 26.
© 2007 The Sydney Morning Herald
