The Holsworthy Barracks terror plot was an Islamist

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

plot uncovered in August 2009 targeting Holsworthy Barracks—an

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

training area located in the outer south-western Sydney suburb of

Holsworthy Holsworthy is a market town and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the parish, which includes the village of Brandis Corner. ...

—with automatic weapons. The perpetrators planned to infiltrate the base and shoot as many army personnel and others as possible until they themselves were killed or captured; but they were arrested before they could carry out their plan.

Cameron Stewart Cameron Stewart (born 1975) is a Canadian comic book creator. He first came to prominence when he collaborated as an illustrator with writer Grant Morrison, and he went on to illustrate ''Catwoman'' and co-write ''Batgirl''. He won Eisner and S ...

and Milanda Rout (5 August 2009
"Somali extremists on a 'fatwa order' from God"
''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'', Retrieved on 5 August 2009Melissa Iaria, 4 August 2009
"Terror suspects 'sought holy approval'"

news.com.au News.com.au (stylised in all lowercase) is an Australian website owned by News Corp Australia. It had 9.6 million unique readers in April 2019 and covers national and international news, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, technology, finance an ...

, Retrieved on 4 August 2009 One of the men acquitted in 2009 went on to kill a man and shoot three police officers in June 2017.

Initial investigation

In 2007, the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government responsible for investigating Crime in Australia, crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth ...

(AFP) launched Operation Rochester to investigate reports of Somali-Australians traveling to fight for al-Shabaab against the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government. That investigation ended because not enough evidence could be gathered to press charges. In 2009, Operation Neath began as another investigation into domestic support for al-Shabab, with approximately 20 people—including Saney Aweys, Wissam Fattal and Nayef el-Sayed—suspected of assisting the Somali jihadist movement. The AFP, the

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is the Intelligence agency, domestic intelligence and national security agency of the Australian Government, responsible for protection from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign inte ...

(ASIO) and the Defence Security Division (DSD) continued monitoring this support network, which had expanded beyond the Somali diaspora in Australia. People of other backgrounds, mainly from Middle Eastern countries who lacked the nationalist element in their motivation were included. Agents from the AFP, DSD and ASIO task force ran a covert investigation that included gathering

Human Intelligence Human intelligence is the Intellect, intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex Cognition, cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. Using their intelligence, humans are able to learning, learn, Concept ...

(HUMINT),

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

and technical surveillance.

Arrests and trial

On 4 August 2009, four men connected with the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab were arrested and charged in association with a terror plot. A fifth man was charged in the following days. Prime Minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

later said that the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

had ordered a review of security at all military bases. On 6 August 2009, a ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' reporter and photographer were charged with taking a photograph of a defence installation after gaining entry to the military base. The perpetrators were Saney Edow Aweys, Nayef El Sayed, Yacqub Khayre, Abdirahman Ahmed and Wissam Mahmoud Fattal. All five were identified as having attended the

Preston Mosque The Preston Mosque, officially the Umar bin Al-Khattab Mosque, is a Sunni Islam, Sunni Islam mosque located in , a suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The mosque is run by the (co-located) Islamic Society of Vict ...

, in Melbourne's northern suburbs. The mosque is the seat of Australia's leading Muslim cleric, Sheik Fehmi Naji El-Imam. They had later been attending the smaller 8 Blacks prayer hall, a former

snooker hall A billiard hall, also known as a pool hall, snooker hall, pool room or pool parlour, is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often h ...

located behind a 7-Eleven store on Boundary Road, which is regarded by authorities as a key hub in Australia's militant Islamist network. All five had been part of the same religious "reading group" at the small mosque. According to police spokesmen, the suspects had been seeking a Muslim cleric willing to give a

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

authorising a

jihad ''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...

attack on an Australian military target. At his arraignment, Wissam Mahmoud Fattal refused to rise for magistrate Peter Reardon, saying that he would not rise to his feet for anyone but Allah. Fattal was led from the courtroom shouting that Australia was killing innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq and that "you call us terrorists – I've never killed anyone in my life." During the trial, 26-year-old Saney Edow Aweys of

Carlton North Carlton North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Yarra local government areas. Carlton North recorded a population of 6,177 at ...

was one of the three men applying for bail in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court. He was also charged with aiding the commission of an offence by Walid Osman Mohamed in Somalia and preparing for incursions into Somalia for the purposes of engaging in hostile activities. Federal agent David Kinton told the court Aweys intended to travel to Somalia with two of his children.

Related events

On 9 August 2009, the opposition legal affairs spokesman

George Brandis George Henry Brandis (born 22 June 1957) is an Australian former politician. He was a Australian Senate, Senator for Queensland from 2000 to 2018, representing the Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Party, and was a Cabinet (Australia), cabin ...

called for al-Shabaab to be listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia; this was done. Evangelical church reverend Danny Nalliah planned to use the plot as an argument to explain that Christianity should be protected "as the core value of the nation" in his speech titled ''Is the West being de-Christianised?'' delivered at the Australian Christian Nation Association Annual National Conference held on 21 November 2009 at the Assyrian Sport and Cultural Club, Fairfield Heights, Sydney.

Impact

As a consequence of this and other incidents, the government of Australia reconsidered its approach to the threat of terrorism and announced that it would release a national security

White Paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...

late in 2009.Sandra O'Malley (11 August 2009
Govt may revamp anti-terrorism laws

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

, An editorial in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' called attention to the wider problem of terrorism emanating from the "ungoverned," but heavily Islamist territory of

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. "If Somali-based terrorist groups can threaten Australia, then there is no limit to what they might do next." 16,000 Somali immigrants live in Australia, and Australian authorities have been worried for some time about the close links some of their number maintain with Islamist and jihadi organisations and ideologies.

Outcome

In December 2011, Justice Betty King sentenced three of the men to 18 years in prison, saying that they should be ashamed for their ingratitude to Australia. She added that Fattal, Aweys and El Sayed were all unrepentant radical Muslims and would remain a threat to the public while they held extremist views. Fattal can be deported on his release from jail, but his co-conspirators are Australian citizens. Abdirahman Ahmed and Yacqub Khayre were acquitted. Khayre, who had a long-standing drug addiction, went on committing criminal offences and serving time in prison. Authorities did not associate him with terrorism again until he orchestrated the 2017 Brighton siege, taking a hostage in a serviced apartment complex and murdering the complex clerk. He enticed police to the complex and made references to Islamic terrorist groups before confronting police in a shoot-out and was killed.

References