By DPA,
Sydney : An Australian Muslim ordered to stand trial over an alleged plan to shoot at a Sydney army base said forest fires that claimed over 170 lives in February were punishment for “filthy people”, a court in Melbourne was told Monday.
Saney Edow Aweys, 26, is one of four men committed to stand trial over the alleged plot.
According to secretly recorded telephone conversations, Aweys told a friend that the “fires broke out in the whole country and all were happy”.
Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, another of the alleged co-conspirators, was said by police to have reconnoitred the Holsworthy army base.
Police claimed a third member, Yacqub Khayre, travelled to Kenya to obtain a fatwa, or religious ruling, to authorise the attack.
A fourth man, Nayef El Sayed, will face a contested committal hearing in May.
In a telephone intercept, Aweys allegedly tells a friend the “filthy people” are being punished by Allah.
“The whole nation is coming down, first the economy comes down,” he allegedly said.