A Kurdish people smuggler, who played a key role in transporting 555 asylum seekers to Christmas Island, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Sayed Omeid, who fought his extradition from Malaysia for several years, pleaded guilty to two counts of organising groups of non-citizens to be brought to Australia in 2001.
The first vessel had 196 passengers on board, and the second 359 passengers.
District Court of Western Australia judge Mark Herron did not accept a submission by defence lawyer Jonathan Davies that Omeid, 43, was "the perfect middle man" to Achmad Olong, the principal organiser in the people-smuggling syndicate.
"Your counsel submits that you agreed to act as a go-between. Your involvement was much greater than that," Judge Herron said on Wednesday.
"You played a central and integral role." The court heard Omeid met asylum seekers in Malaysia and arranged their accommodation and transfer to Indonesia, where he again arranged their food and accommodation, negotiated and collected fees, and coordinated their transfer to the vessels.
Some of the asylum seekers, from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Yemen, paid as much as $US4000 ($5000) each.
Judge Herron said that while Olong played a more senior role in the syndicate, he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and did not oppose extradition, unlike Omeid.
The judge imposed a non-parole period of six-and-a-half years, backdated to September 17, 2010, when Omeid was arrested in Malaysia.
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