Australian teen jailed over Islamic State-inspired plot

[webfact]

Australian teen jailed over Islamic State-inspired plot 

 

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A teenager who plotted to run over and behead a police officer as part of an Islamic State movement-inspired attack on an Australian Veterans' Day ceremony was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison.

 

Sevdet Besim, 19, had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison after pleaded guilty in Victoria state's Supreme Court in June to one count of planning for a terrorist act.

 

On Monday, the court instead ordered Besim to serve a 10-year prison term, with the possibility of parole after 7 ½ years.

 

Prosecutors said Besim was involved in a plot to attack last year's services in Melbourne or the neighboring city of Dandenong marking ANZAC Day, the annual commemoration of the 1915 Gallipoli landings in Turkey. The campaign was the first major military action fought by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I and hundreds of thousands of people attend commemoration services around Australia.

 

Police said Besim was motivated by an extremist ideology and had expressed support for the Islamic State group.

 

In court documents, prosecutors said that Besim and a British accomplice had also discussed packing a kangaroo with explosives and painting it with the Islamic State symbol before setting it loose on Australian police officers. The documents don't suggest the alleged kangaroo plot was linked to the ANZAC Day plot.

 

Last year, a British court sentenced a 15-year-old boy from Blackburn, in northwestern England, for his role in the plot.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-09-05

[Pimay1]

57 minutes ago, webfact said:

On Monday, the court instead ordered Besim to serve a 10-year prison term, with the possibility of parole after 7 ½ years.

Quite a harsh prison term for someone who is misguided and mentally ill. We must have more understanding and compassion.

[Scott]

I am not a supporter of some of the harsher punishments meted out by a lot of crimes, but in situations involving violence or intended violence, I think it's important to keep the person in jail until they have passed the prime ages where people are likely to be involved in violent behavior.  

 

This kid will get out when he is possibly 26 years old.   He is still in his prime.   If he is released, he will need to be monitored very closely.  

[jacksam]

Where was mentally ill mentioned.   Recently in USA, Chapman was refused parole and has been in jail for murder for very long time.   Had this young man managed to kill a police officer you would give him what 15 with min of 10.  He got what was heading his way. Think he may need solitary as his actions won't be popular.

 

BTW the 15 yr old in UK who planned this act along with this Au man was given life. In reality that means perhaps 5 years inside and released when not considered a threat.

[Pimay1]

16 minutes ago, jacksam said:

Where was mentally ill mentioned. 

It wasn't. That was my point. Those are the latest buzz words for the Islamist nutters. It was satire.

[jacksam]

Perhaps Google "terrorist vs mental illness" .... Despite being "buzz word" 

(I've never heard of it) mental illness has zip to do with price of fish.

[SgtRock]

Australia, you have a massive desert area, time to build a huge Aussie style Gitmo right in the middle of it.

 

Th UK will only be too happy to set up a prisoner transfer free trade agreement with you 

[Pimay1]

21 minutes ago, jacksam said:

Perhaps Google "terrorist vs mental illness" .... Despite being "buzz word" 

(I've never heard of it) mental illness has zip to do with price of fish.

It went right over your head.

[Ulysses G.]

55 minutes ago, Pimay1 said:

Quite a harsh prison term for someone who is misguided and mentally ill. We must have more understanding and compassion.

 

Very amusing, but it needs one of these, so no one gets confused: 

[jacksam]

7 minutes ago, Pimay1 said:

It went right over your head.

Hardly.....

Terrorists are not mentally ill. 

[SgtRock]

1 minute ago, jacksam said:

Hardly.....

Terrorists are not mentally ill. 

 

Apparently they are in Europe

 

Terrorism appears to be a banned word and has been replaced by mentally ill 

[Galactus]

very low punishment imo.

they should keep him in jail until he gets old enough so he cant think or try to commit such crimes anymore.

[mesterm]

Well the Quran promises heaven to those who die for Allah, so it's bound to lead to such behavior. The uneditable final words of God that are so open to interpretation.

 

Why believe something that's so unclear? 

[halloween]

A pity the little moron hadn't tried the bomb kangaroo trick. It would have saved us some tax dollars if she had gutted him.

[balo]

It's good that they actually punish him to set an example to others that might follow. In my country that would never happen, the government is too PC.

[simple1]

2 hours ago, Scott said:

I am not a supporter of some of the harsher punishments meted out by a lot of crimes, but in situations involving violence or intended violence, I think it's important to keep the person in jail until they have passed the prime ages where people are likely to be involved in violent behavior.  

 

This kid will get out when he is possibly 26 years old.   He is still in his prime.   If he is released, he will need to be monitored very closely.  

 

The Oz government is in the process of enacting additional legislation for those convicted of terrorism offences in order that the parole / security agencies access if the offender is an ongoing risk at time of parole. If so, I think I recall correctly, sentence can be extended by three years and is a continuous evaluation. In effect a detainee could spend life in prison.

[Scott]

Prisons are good for dispensing justice and retribution.   They are also good at keeping undesirable elements out of society.   They are a lot less effective when it comes to rehabilitation.   After all, the incarcerated individual is in an abnormal environment where criminal thinking and ways are the norm.

 

Whether or not a person should be incarcerated for a long time is something for the professionals to assess.   I think we know very, very little about the psychological makeup of terrorists, what the risk factors are how to predict the chance of re-offending. 

 

We do know that as people get older, they statistically start presenting less of a danger to others, especially violent offenders.   That's not always true, but the professionals can usually be pretty accurate about who is a high risk, a low risk, and almost no risk.

 

The problem in this situation is that in the mid-20's there is still a good chance of having the ability and will to re-offend.

 

Oh, and by the way, most professionals who work with prisoners are not soft on criminals.   They may very well understand why someone is the way they are, but they are quite stringent about not wanting those who are a risk of re-offending in the open community.  

 

Acts of terrorism are a unique situation, they may occur without being associated with a mental illness.    Unfortunately, it looks like there is going to be a lot of time and a lot of potential people on which to study terrorism.  

[phantomfiddler]

How can you call this retard an Australian teen ! Should be wrapped in a pigskin and left out in the sun for 25 years

[senor123]

6 hours ago, SgtRock said:

Australia, you have a massive desert area, time to build a huge Aussie style Gitmo right in the middle of it.

 

Th UK will only be too happy to set up a prisoner transfer free trade agreement with you 

I thought we already had. That's how European settlement started. 

[rosst]

The punishment meted out is on the lower side, let the parole board pay attention. 

[lvr181]

18 hours ago, Pimay1 said:

Quite a harsh prison term for someone who is misguided and mentally ill. We must have more understanding and compassion.

 

All of them are misguided and mentally ill !! You're allowed to cut off heads but not eat bacon? That sure sounds like being "misguided" to me.