Five Sydney terrorists sentenced
Published:Monday | February 15, 2010 | 5:56 PM
Five men convicted of a terrorist conspiracy in the Australian city of Sydney have been handed jail sentences between 23 and 28 years.
The men cannot be named for legal reasons.
They were found guilty last year of charges such as possessing bomb-making instructions and explosives chemicals.
Prosecutors say they were plotting violent jihadist attacks in protest at Australia\'s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The exact details of the plot and the men\'s intended targets have never been specified, but their trial was the longest in Australian history.
Justice Anthony Whealy of the New South Wales Supreme Court, who passed sentence, said they had been motivated by intolerant, inflexible religious conviction.
He said they had also displayed contempt for the Australian government, its leaders and laws.
Some of the men were reported to have smiled in court as the sentences were handed down.