A Queensland man who urged support for Islamic State terrorists in social media posts has been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.
The man, 43, must serve a minimum of three years in prison after being sentenced in the Brisbane District Court.
He was found guilty on six counts of advocating terrorism following a jury trial last week.
The man, from Logan in Brisbane’s north, was also acquitted of an additional two counts of the same charge.
An additional count of dealing in proceeds of crime, money or property worth $1,000 or more was added to his sentence after he pleaded guilty to the offence in February 2025.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP), Queensland Police Service (QPS), and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) issued a joint statement, revealing the man had played a senior role in a Brisbane group that maintained a “religiously-motivated violent extremist ideology.”
The group had also expressed desires to travel to Syria in order to engage in hostile activities, according to the statement.
Police say the man had posted a series of videos on social media from March 2019 till February 2020 where he spoke in English and Arabic while urging followers to provide weapons to fighters and participate in jihad.
Police also found that in 2013, the man had provided funds to a person who had travelled from Australia to Syria to participate in “hostile activities” in Syria.
The man, who is an Australian citizen, also left Australia in 2019 and was taken into custody by Saudi police in 2021, before being deported back to Australia.
And in 2022, he was charged with eight counts of advocating for terrorism.
The offender has been in prison since 2022, after being arrested for breaching his bail by removing a GPS tracking bracelet and attempting to fly one-way to Oman.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said the Queensland Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) which encompasses the AFP, QPS, and ASIO, had caught the man inciting others to support Islamic State, a prescribed terror organisation.
“The AFP’s number one priority will always be to keep Australians safe from those who seek to do them harm and there is no place in civil society for people who incite others to engage in violence.”
QPS Security and Counter Terrorism Command, Acting Assistant Commissioner Heath Hutchings, said the case sent a strong message that those who engage in terror activities will face court.
Terror Level Remains ‘Probable’
Australia’s current terrorism threat level is “probable,” meaning there is a more than 50 percent chance of an onshore attack or planning for an attack within the next 12 months.Terror attacks on Australian soil, according to the government, are most likely to occur in a crowded place in a major city and be committed by a single person or small group.
