Health Fears For Terrorist Suspects
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday January 18, 2006
FEDERAL prosecutors are sifting through hundreds of taped phone calls, thousands of seized exhibits and hundreds of thousands of computer files to build their case against nine Sydney terrorist suspects arrested late last year.
The amount of potential evidence was the reason prosecutors could not provide defence lawyers with all the material promised to them, a court was told yesterday.The defence team has been incensed by the prosecution's failure to hand over the material, arguing that their clients' health is deteriorating under the harsh conditions inside maximum-security jails throughout NSW.All nine men face possible life sentences after being charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist act.The Crown prosecutor, Wendy Abraham, QC, told Central Local Court that a "significant amount" of material had been provided to the defence, and that defence lawyers were aware of the "core" of the case against their clients."There is more material that's ready to be served. It is confidential, and we need an undertaking of confidentiality," Ms Abraham said."Much of the evidence is electronic surveillance, as well as visual surveillance. It takes time [to collate]."She said prosecutors would provide the court with thousands of exhibits, many of which were being examined by teams of forensics experts.Defence counsel, Adam Houda, asked the magistrate, Allan Moore, to "flex his muscle" and order the Commonwealth to "get its act together".He told the court: "These people are deteriorating in jail. They are slipping away in health and they don't receive adequate medical care."Mr Houda said he had received 24 of the 40 potential files of evidence from prosecutors, which was "totally unsatisfactory".But Mr Moore expressed sympathy for the task prosecutors had in analysing the evidence. He remanded the men in custody to face court via videolink on February 6.
© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald
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