A Sydney man who has been in jail since 2014, will spend at least another nine years behind bars for financing Islamic State with thousands of dollars.
Ali Al-Talebi, originally from Iraq, was found guilty of two counts of supplying funds to a terrorist organisation after instructing a young associate to send two parcels of $3000 to Pakistan.
He was also convicted on one charge of attempting to make funds available to a terror organisation, relating to the $9000 in US bank notes that were never sent, due to a high transfer fee that the associate decided against paying.
The 27-year-old was sentenced to a maximum of 12 years' jail and a minimum nine years on Monday for his role in sending $6000 to Pakistan in 2014, and attempting to send another $US9000.
Al-Talebi arrived on Christmas Island by boat as a 10-year-old, before being transferred to Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia, did not react when Judge Robert Sutherland delivered the sentence in Penrith District Court.
The court heard Al-Talebi had been disturbed by events as a child while held in the WA detention centre.
"He saw a person preparing to hang himself," Judge Sutherland told the court, from evidence provided by a psychologist's report.
Judge Sutherland said Al-Talebi had only realised what he had seen after someone told him the man had killed himself.
Al-Talebi, who had been jailed since December 2014, could be eligible for parole in late 2023.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Multicultural Mental Health Australia www.mmha.org.au.
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