Australia to try 5 for 'trying to sail to join Daesh'

By Jill Fraser

MELBOURNE, Australia

A court in far north Australia ordered Monday that five men charged for alleged plans to leave the country by boat to eventually join Daesh in Syria be extradited to Melbourne to face trial.

The men, who are all from Melbourne and aged between 21 and 31, were each charged Sunday with one count of making preparations for incursions into foreign countries for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities.

They were arrested in north Queensland last Tuesday after driving from Melbourne with a 7-meter (23-foot) boat in tow in an alleged bid to sail to Indonesia en route to Syria.

The Cairns Magistrates Court upheld Monday an argument by the Australian Federal Police's joint counter terrorism teams that the men be returned to Melbourne to face a Magistrates Court on Thursday.

They face a maximum penalty of life in jail if found guilty.

Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed Sunday that each of the men had had their passports canceled several months ago by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

"These people had been under surveillance for quite some time -- that's the reason their passports were cancelled because they had been under surveillance and their intentions to travel to the Middle East to engage in terrorist war fighting were known to the authorities," Brandis told reporters in Brisbane.

"When it became clear to them that they wouldn't be able to leave the country in an orthodox way, they remained under surveillance so that if they attempted to leave the country in this very unusual way they would be able to be stopped and they were."

Among the five were Musa Cerantonio, who London-based think-tank the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation has described as "an outspoken cheerleader for ISIS [Daesh]".

Others were Kadir Kaya, who told local radio in October that he hated Australia but could not leave due to his passport being revoked, and Shayden Thorne, the brother of Australian preacher Junaid Thorne -- who was sentenced to eight months in prison in August 2015 for flying under a false name.

It is expected the men will be extradited Monday night to Melbourne.

Australia has been engaged in efforts to increase anti-terror measures in recent years.

The country passed legislation in December to strip dual nationals of their citizenship if they are convicted or suspected of terrorism offences.

It has already banned its citizens from traveling to Mosul and Syria’s Raqqa province -- unless they have a “legitimate purpose” for being there.