Lebanese-Australian Gets Re-trial over Jihad Handbook

W300

A Lebanese-born former Qantas cabin cleaner jailed in Australia for producing a do-it-yourself jihad manual Thursday had his conviction quashed by an appeals court and faces a re-trial.

Belal Khazaal was sentenced to a maximum 12 years in prison in September 2009 after a jury found him guilty of knowingly making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act.

The Arabic-language "Provisions of the Rules of Jihad: Short Judicial Rulings and Organizational Instructions for Fighters and Mujahideen Against Infidels" was compiled in 2003 and ran to 110 pages.

Khazaal won the right to a re-trial in the Court of Criminal Appeal, with two of three judges ruling that his conviction should be quashed.

The judgment was suppressed.

Khazaal remains behind bars pending a bail hearing.