Having successfully made the dangerous journey to Australia by boat, Fadhill Zangana claimed he wanted to help others take the same trip safely.
After reaching Australia in 2001, the Iraqi man took up a number of jobs, including as a cleaner and machinery operator following a stint living on the streets.
But by 2011, he was organising the journeys of asylum seekers by boat to Australia.
Zangana was sentenced in Downing Street District Court on Friday to a minimum of three years and six months for six people-smuggling offences.
The court heard the 39-year-old wanted to help make the dangerous journey a little safer for friends and family, rather than leave it to "crooked smugglers".
He claimed he didn't think he was breaking the law, a claim Judge David Arnott SC did not accept.
Zangana had pleaded guilty at an earlier date to helping people enter the country illegally, assisting with visas, putting asylum seekers in contact with people smugglers and arranging accommodation in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Judge Arnott said that in December 2011, Zangana told someone on the phone in Indonesia he had two customers and passed on their names and passport numbers.
Zangana claimed his customers included a friend's relatives who were threatened in their homeland because they had worked with US forces in Iraq.
The court heard other asylum seekers included Zangana's cousin and her four-year-old child, whose home had been targeted by a suicide bomber.
Judge Arnott found Zangana acted for a combination of motives, including personal gain and altruism.
Zangana claimed he had received a life insurance payout after his wife took her own life in 2006.
He was not short of money, Judge Arnott told the court, and accepted there was "little if any" monetary gain for Zangana in aiding the woman and child.
The court heard Zangana met two men at a restaurant in Malaysia and told them the quickest way to Australia was by boat.
The men were quoted $10,000 each for the journey, plus an additional $10,000 down the track.
Australian naval vessels intercepted separate boats off Christmas Island in 2012 and some of the people Zangana helped were on board.
Judge Arnott said while Zangana had shown "remarkable resilience", the man morally felt he had done nothing wrong.
Zangana will be eligible for parole in April 2016.
