Two brothers in Sydney, Australia, have been handed lengthy prison sentences for their role in trying to place a bomb on an Etihad flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi. They intended the bomb to detonate mid-flight.
They hid the bomb in a meat grinder, which they packed in the luggage of a third brother. The plot was hatched in callusion with a fourth, older brother, who fought for Islamic State in Syria. A seperate poison gas attack was also planned.
Related: Isis has killed at least 25 gay men in Syria so far
The court heard they chose the third brother to unwittingly carry the bomb because, “They disapproved of him because he drank, went clubbing, gambled and was gay which they regarded as bringing shame on the family.”
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The plot unfolded on July 15, 2017. Khaled Khayat, 52, and Mahmoud Khayat, 34, hid the bomb in the meat grinder, which they place in the luggage of their gay brother.
However, once at the airport, they decided to abandon the plan when a baggage attendant told them the luggage was too heavy.
Fearing that the luggage might be inspected and the bomb discovered, Khaled removed it. The two brothers were later arrested.
Their older brother, an ISIS leader in Syria, had sent them the bomb components in Sydney, along with videos on how to assemble it. The court heard he is still in the Middle East and believed to be either dead or near death from lung cancer.
Today, at NSW Supreme Court, Justice Christine Adamson said, “If the plots had gone according to plan, no one in the aircraft carrying the bomb and no one exposed to the poisonous gas would have survived and no one would have had time to say goodbye.
“The scale of the intended impact adds significantly to the gravity of the offense.”
The judge said that although the plot had failed, they still managed to “create terror” among the public who heard of the plot.
“The conspiracy to which both offenders were parties plainly envisaged that a large number of people would be killed.”
Related: Inside ISIS sympathizer’s plot to bomb San Francisco gay bars
They were found guilty earlier in the year of conspiring between January and July 2017 to prepare or plan a terrorist act.
Khaled Khayat was jailed for 40 years and Mahmoud Khayat for 36 years and must serve a minimum of 30 and 27 years respectively.
Their gay brother had previously been detained for two years in a Lebanese prison when authorities suspected he was knowingly involved in the plot. However, he was returned to Sydney in September when a military court ruled he was not involved and had been used by his brothers.
irbaboon
muslims are such jerks
Paul Morton
Anyone who writes Islamaphobic garbage and can’t give their name online is a coward.
Ricanthony
Baboon – how about not being an islamophobic jerk. People of all religions are jerks.
Raphael
No, sorry, he’s right. If people of all religions are jerks, then Muslims are extra jerks…
Hussain-TheCanadian
Reading stories like this, makes me wish we still had the death penrality across the western world.
This treachery to the counties and people who welcomed you (or your parents) with open arms on the basis of our cohumanity to be thanked with bombs by these murderers is beyond unbelievable.
This is why people need to be aware of, and understand, the salafi ideology that is the basis of all the terrorist groups globally. They are actually pretty easy to uncover and I hope more western states recruit more of their muslim citizens to uncover these groups.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
They choose to target their Gay brother, essentially hoping to murder him. They are abhorrent noxious soulless smcubag puddles of puke…
They are also ignorant incredibly stoopid arsewipes because nothing screams “nothing out of the ordinary here” as bringing a extremely heavy freaking MEAT GRINDER on a passenger airliner..,
Creamsicle
So this happened a year and a half ago?
Chrisk
Lets see. Cowardly murdering innocent people a-ok with your religion. Drinking and being Gay is a sin worthy of death though. No words.
Smith David
Haven’t most religions used the name of Christ to justify killing innocent people? In my heart I want to love all people. But, these radicals make it so difficult.
P.S..an African American.