A MUSLIM cleric toured Britain for four years urging audiences to observe the teachings of Osama bin Laden and kill all Jews, Hindus and Westerners by any means available, including chemical and nuclear weapons, a court was told yesterday.
Abdullah el-Faisal, a 39-year-old imam, addressed thousands of young Muslims across the country on their “pressing duty” to learn how to fire guns, fly planes and use missiles in their mission to “kill all unbelievers”.

The Old Bailey was told that Sheikh el-Faisal instructed his followers on ways to murder non-Muslims, a “wonderful” act that would ensure their immediate entry into paradise..........

IT was a book called Provisions on the Rules of Jihad, a passionate justification of holy war complete with a step-by-step guide to assassinations and bomb-making.

Its author, former Qantas baggage cabin cleaner Belal Saadallah Khazaal, compiled the document and put it on a website with links to al-Qa'ida, in the hope of reaching a wider and more radicalised audience.

Yesterday, five years after he was charged, Khazaal was jailed for a maximum of 12 years, with a minimum sentence of nine years, by a NSW Supreme Court judge who said the crime was close to the worst category of offending.

Arrested in 2004, Khazaal was charged with two offences -- making a document knowing it could assist in a terrorist act and inciting terrorism.

In September last year, he was convicted of the first offence and became only the second person convicted under Australia's tough new anti-terrorism laws. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the second count.

In her judgment yesterday, judge Megan Latham said the book, which suggested high-ranking Western politicians as assassination targets, and advocated widespread and indiscriminate loss of life, serious injury and serious property damage within the countries identified as enemies of Islam.
"It beggars belief that a person of average intelligence who had devoted themselves to the study of Islam over a period of some years would fail to register the nature of the material," she said.
Justice Latham said Khazaal's hopes of rehabilitation were extremely poor and that he was not remorseful.

"There has been no acknowledgement, let alone renunciation, of the extremist nature of the prisoner's views."

Married with two children, Khazaal, a 39-year-old dual Australian-Lebanese citizen, held various jobs after his permanent arrival in Australia in 1986. He worked as a cleaner at Qantas before losing his job after a work injury.

Khazaal had been convicted of serious charges in Lebanon.

In 2003 a Lebanese court sentenced him, in absentia, to 10 years in prison with hard labour for his alleged involvement in funding the 2003 bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Beirut.

In 2005 he was given 15 years for the formation of a criminal group and for falsifying a passport for another man who had fled Australia to Lebanon. Khazaal has never refuted these charges.

Justice Latham said she was not overly concerned by the length of time between Khazaal being charged and his sentencing, saying his legal team had taken many steps that had delayed the justice process.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions indicated further action was unlikely on the second charge of inciting terrorism, in which the jury returned a hung verdict.

"It's good to see the matter concluded," said Chris Craigie SC. "It was a very challenging case, very ably conducted by our team."

Khazaal's supporters left the courtroom as soon as the sentence was read out, shouting to him in Arabic: "You've been set up. Allah be with you and grant you patience."

Outside court, his lawyer, Adam Houda, said that Khazaal would appeal.

"That's round one, but we'll win round two with a knockout," Mr Houda said.