15 Aug 2016

Mercy urged for NZer who wanted to fight in Syria

5:33 pm on 15 August 2016

A New Zealand man who attempted to join the conflict in Syria should not be treated as harshly as people found guilty of terror-related offences, a court in Australia has been told.

The Supreme Court in Melbourne, Victoria

Photo: AFP

Amin Mohamed, 25, was found guilty of three counts of attempting to enter a foreign state to engage in hostile activities after he was stopped at Brisbane Airport in September 2013 with a one-way ticket to Istanbul.

The 25-year-old's lawyer, Julian McMahon, told a pre-sentence hearing in the Supreme Court of Victoria today Mohamed's conduct should not be considered "very serious".

Mr McMahon said intending to engage in hostilities in another country could not be "seriously correlated" with wanting to commit mass murder in Australia.

- AAP

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