'Jihad Terror Manual' Recommends Assassination By...Cake!

There's nothing funny about terrorism. But the Sydney trial surrounding a book allegedly promoting jihadi violence and advocating acts of terror is starting to yield a few unexpected laughs :

The book at the centre of a terrorism related trial in Sydney lists assassination methods including smothering a target by throwing a "cake".

Another method listed is wrapping the target in "a strong plastic bag", which the book says hardly leaves a trace on the body and could leave the impression that it was suicide.

...Mr Khazaal's barrister, George Thomas, said except for a few paragraphs written by his client, the book was compiled from material authored by others which was freely available in the public domain.

Twelve methods of assassination are listed, including detonating a car from a distance, sniping, booby trapping a room, storming houses, poison, shooting down planes and striking motorcades.

Are they talking about a jihad manual or a Tom Clancy novel?

The smothering section includes drowning and the cake throwing technique.

"A couple could pretend to be joking before attacking the target," the translation reads.

"This would lead to his eyes, nose and mouth being plugged and loses the ability to breathe.

"Few would suspect the fatal consequences."

This is terrifying stuff. Clearly we need to ban the home stockpiling of flour, eggs, milk and vanilla essence. For God's sake, anyone could make this deadly weapon in the privacy of their own kitchen.

Then again, there's probably more than a few suicidal, hopeless cream-and-pastry junkies who would welcome such an attack. Hell, it beats being blown apart by an IED.

Sarah Lee and The Cheesecake Factory better watch out, now they've been linked in a 'jihad manual' as possible creators and distributors of potential weapons of mass, gooey, delicious assassination.

I went shopping yesterday morning and saw entire shelves of deadly smother-cake ingredients available for sale. You don't even have to show ID to buy them! In the freezer section, they had dozens of smother-cakes ready to go. All a jihadist has to do is thaw them out!

Another assassination method is "hitting with a hammer", noting "this type of weapon is excellent in close combat where fire arms are not desirable".

It all sounds very dangerous. Nobody has ever discussed how a hammer can be used to kill someone before. Except for The Beatles, and that whole Maxwell's Silver Hammer song.

Is it too soon to use the word 'farcical' to describe this trial?

The Multi-Million Dollar Trial Of A Book

Is this all they've really got on this so-called 'terrorist suspect'? That he cut and pasted together a collection of online articles?

A Sydney man allegedly compiled a book advocating terrorist attacks including bombings, shooting down planes and assassinations of key US officials including George W Bush, s Supreme Court jury has been told.

The book, entitled Provision on the Rules of Jihad, contained sections that canvassed various methods of murder and terrorist attack including letterbombs, boobytrapping cars, kidnappings and poisonings, according to crown prosecutor Peter Neil SC.

Mr Neil, in his opening address in the case against Belal Khazaal, said the book listed a number of countries that were key targets for the attacks, including Australia.

It also included references to international terrorists including al-Qa'ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and talked about how “small cells” could cause havoc among Americans.

“Small groups can cause horror to the US and Jews alike,” Mr Neil told the jury was a quote from the book.

Mr Khazaal has pleaded not guilty to knowingly making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act and attempting to incite the commission of a terrorist act.

It is alleged the offences occurred between September and October 2003, in Sydney and elsewhere in the world.

However, Mr Khazaal's counsel told the jury the material was written by others and was freely available in the public domain.

The crown is alleging that using the non de plume Abu Mohamed Attawheedy, Mr Khazaal put together the book, which promoted violence against Christians, Jews and non-Muslims and had it posted on an internet site.

Nr Neil told the jury that Mr Khazaal did not use his own name and he did that deliberately to distance himself from his own document.

The book, a collection of articles written by other people, talks about successful assassinations of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and unsuccessful assassinations and why they failed.

Key Terror Trial Witness Heard Birds Telling Him Their Problems

It's reassuring to see Australia's largest trial of suspected terrorists, you know the ones who are so allegedly dangerous they had to be separated from their wives and children for years and held in a Supermax Victorian prison, hasn't descended into a complete and total farce :

The key witness in Australia's biggest terrorist trial lived a life of luxury, communicated with birds and saw a she-devil, a court heard yesterday.

The witness, Izzydeen Atik of Newport, told the court on Tuesday the group's alleged leader, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, told him the group planned to attack the 2005 AFL grand final at the MCG and Melbourne's Crown Casino during the 2006 Grand Prix.

Mr Atik is a key witness in the trial of 12 men accused of being members of a terrorist organisation. All have pleaded not guilty.

Remy van de Wiel, QC, a lawyer for Benbrika, told the court of a psychiatric report in 2002 in which Mr Atik claimed that birds often told him their problems.

"If you spend a day with me you will see the birds follow me and talk to me," Mr Atik told the psychiatrist who compiled the report.

Mr van de Wiel told the court the report quoted Mr Atik as saying: "I see another one, a girl, not human, a devil. She says she loves me [and] she won't let me have a relationship. She scares me."

And it gets worse.

The police raids in November, 2005, that led to the arrests of the men now on trial just happened to coincide with the introduction of the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005,

Claim : Australian Terror Suspects Denied "Fair Go"

"Media Reports" Led To Prisoners Being Denied Physical Contact With Families, Locked In Cells For 18 Hours A Day

13 Australian terrorism suspects are before the Victorian Supreme Court in what is being billed by the media as "Australia's Biggest Terror Trial".

The charges they face relate to conspiracies to form a terrorist organisation, build bombs, finance terror activities and intent to undertake a terror attack.

From media reports about the charges and the prosecution's case, the documents for which now run to 60,000 pages of information, it is hard to assume these men are being charged with anything beyond intent, conspiracy and 'thought crimes', which on their own are crimes enough now to warrant lengthy prison sentences under the Howard government's anti-terror laws.

But the conditions under which the suspects are being held, which appear to be far beyond maximum security levels, are now threatening to distract the public from the actual charges these men face.

The defence barrister, Jim Keenan QC, claims that by the time a guilty or non-guilty verdict is handed down, these 13 men, many of whom have young children, will have been imprisoned for up to two and a half years, and that they are being treated "like convicted criminals".

As ABC News reported, Mr Keenan has claimed that the conditions they are undergoing are "offensive to any intuitive notion of a fair go".

...the court heard the men are locked in their cells for 18 hours a day, have little time with their families and are denied basic medical treatment.

The men say they cannot pray together and only get a one-hour non-contact visit a week.

In court earlier this week, the men appeared grouped together behind a sheet of plexiglass, surrounded by 16 prison officers. Or as the ABC put it, "drenched in security guards."

Justice Bernard Bongiorno commented, "I've never seen so many prison officers here before."

The prison services director, Roberick Wise, admitted to reporters that the accused men are being incarcerated under conditions which are "probably" more extreme than those endured by convicted criminals.

The court was told by Mr Wise that allowing the men access to group activities, education and hard copies of any of the 60,000 pages of prosecution documents in preparation for their July trial were actions all deemed to be "security risks".

The men's lawyer, Jim Kennan SC, told the court the conditions are contrary to Australia's Corrections Act and asked Mr Wise how Corrections Victoria had arrived at judgments about the security risk posed by the men.

Mr Wise said the decisions were based on a range of factors, including media reports.

Justice Bongiorno expressly asked Mr Kennan what he thought of the 16 prison officers in the court. Mr Kennan's answer was blunt.

"This doesn't give the impression of anything other than a very prejudicial image to the jury," he said.

"It's excessive and unnecessary, almost overwhelming."

Justice Bongiorno later said: "What seems to be missing here is any real assessment of the security risk. It seems to be assumed."