By Fergus Hunter and Toby Crockford
An Australian gemstone dealer allegedly helped arrange travel for a jihadist into the Syrian conflict zone where he engaged in fierce battles near war-torn Aleppo.
Ahmed Luqman Talib, who runs Melbourne-based gemstone trading business Talib and Sons, was denied bail on Friday following his arrest last month on a charge of preparing for foreign incursions to engage in hostile activities.
Mr Talib, 31, is accused alongside Queensland-based dog trainer Gabriel Crazzi of associating with a group of hardline Islamists in southeast Queensland, many of whom travelled to Syria to fight with terrorist organisations, according to the Australian Federal Police.
Mr Talib – the son of public health professor Lukman Thalib who was recently detained without charge for six months in Qatar – has enlisted a high-powered legal team following his arrest, including Sydney-based solicitor Mohammad Chahine and barristers Hament Dhanji, SC, and Peter Lange.
Documents tendered in court detail police allegations that Mr Talib left Australia in May 2013, bound for Turkey and living offshore until he returned in 2018.
In mid-2013, he allegedly facilitated Turkish accommodation and a visa for an aspiring Australian foreign fighter and connected the man – who is now acting as a witness for Crown prosecutors – with Khattab Jamaat, a jihadist rebel group engaged in the Syrian civil war.
Investigators allege Mr Talib arranged a meeting at a cafe with one of the Turkey-based leaders of the group, a man named Abdullah, dubbed “Blue Eyes” for his eye colour and fair skin.
At the meeting, Mr Talib allegedly acted as a translator and arranged the unidentified man’s journey to Syria.
“[The man] was provided with the contact details, locations to attend and detailed instructions of how to enter Syria with Khattab Jamaat and fight against the Assad regime,” investigators alleged.
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The man then travelled from Istanbul to Reyhanli, a town near the Syrian border, to be smuggled across by a humanitarian organisation called the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, also known as IHH.
Investigators say that, while the organisation claims to provide humanitarian relief in crisis situations, there is “mounting evidence that IHH assists terrorist organisations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda” by smuggling fighters and weapons in ambulances.
Mr Talib has a previous link to IHH. In June 2010, he was shot by Israeli commandos on board an IHH-owned vessel Mavi Marmara, which was part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The Israeli navy intercepted the ship in a dawn attack and killed nine activists.
The Syrian conflict started in 2011 as a peaceful uprising against the repressive Assad regime but spiralled into a violent and chaotic civil war, involving hundreds of rebel groups. The conflict has persisted for a decade and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrians.
Khattab Jamaat, according to Australian officials, believed in waging jihad against the Assad regime and wanted to “establish a Syrian state governed by Islamic law”, aligned with other Islamist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra.
Khattab Jamaat and Jabhat al-Nusra have reportedly provided security for IHH ambulances smuggling fighters into Syria.
Mr Crazzi, who is facing a series of charges for allegedly engaging in foreign hostilities, allegedly met up with the unnamed man in early 2014, travelling to Sheikh Najjar near Aleppo and engaging in battles against pro-Assad forces, firing “hundreds of rounds of ammunition” over two weeks.
On Friday, Mr Talib’s barrister, Mr Dhanji, argued the alleged offences occurred eight years ago and his client had an otherwise clean record.
He said the prosecution case depended largely on evidence from one key witness, the unnamed combatant who struck a deal with authorities after being charged with terrorism offences in 2019.
Arguing Mr Talib presented a flight risk, Crown prosecutor Clare O’Connor said he was found with a fraudulent Venezuelan passport in 2016, which was missing and could still be in his possession.
She also said the investigators found Mr Talib in October last year with a secure Ciphr phone “designed to avoid law enforcement oversight” and which he refused to unlock.
Officers from the AFP, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and Victoria Police raided Mr Talib’s home in the northeast Melbourne suburb of Doncaster East in October as the US government sanctioned Mr Talib, accusing him of “operational and facilitation activities on behalf of al-Qaeda-linked groups, including providing assistance in the movement of individuals and finances internationally”.
In a statement released at the time, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Mr Talib’s international gemstone business provided him with the “ability to move funds internationally for the benefit of al-Qaeda”.
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Australian and US officials have probed his travels and money transfers across Brazil, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Turkey, and the Gulf.
On Friday, rejecting Mr Talib’s bail application, Supreme Court Justice David Boddice said there was a substantial risk the man would attempt to flee, citing his previous possession of a fraudulent passport.
Justice Boddice also noted Mr Talib’s extensive network of international contacts and access to valuable gemstones, which could be used to fund an escape from Australia.
Mr Talib was extradited from Melbourne in March to face the Commonwealth charges in Queensland.
The matter will return to the Brisbane Magistrates Court on June 25 for a committal mention.