Bilal Khazal, could be extradited to Lebanon

Lebanon looms for baggage man
By Mike Seccombe and Malcolm Brown
February 25, 2005
· http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Lebanon-looms-for-baggage-man/2005/02/24/1109180047429.html

Bilal Khazal ... the Attorney-General wants him extradited.
A Sydney man, Bilal Khazal, could be extradited to Lebanon, after having been sentenced yesterday, in absentia, to 15 years' jail on terrorist-related charges, the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, announced yesterday.
The former Qantas baggage handler was one of three men found guilty by a military tribunal in Beirut. The second of them, Saleh Jamal, was sentenced to five years' jail for offences including the possession of weapons and explosives, planning terrorist attacks, and travelling on a forged Australian passport.
According to evidence presented to the tribunal, Khazal provided Jamal with his false travel documents, helped finance and directed his activities in Lebanon.
Jamal, 29, is also wanted by Australian police, having skipped bail while facing charges arising from the drive-by shooting of Lakemba police station in 1998.
Mr Ruddock said Australia would seek the return of Jamal to face those charges at the end of his jail term in Lebanon.
A third man, Haitham Melham, was sentenced to 12 months' jail for his role in assisting Jamal, while a fourth, Zoheir Issa, identified by Mr Ruddock as a "person of interest", was released, and is expected to return to Australia.
While there is no general extradition agreement between Australia and Lebanon, a spokeswoman for Mr Ruddock, Charlie McKillop, said changes made last year to the act would allow it in terrorist cases.
She confirmed a request for Khazal's extradition had already been received from Lebanese authorities, "but the text is in Arabic, and we are still getting it translated".
Mr Ruddock was vague on how the reciprocal extraditions - Jamal to Australia and Khazal to Lebanon - might work, given that it was "more difficult for us to get people out of Lebanon" than to send them there.
In any case, the Government will have plenty of time to iron out the details. Mr Ruddock said the Government would not proceed with any request from the Lebanese until charges against Khazal had been dealt with in the Australian courts.
He is free on bail, having been charged in relation to the publication on an internet site of documents connected with terrorism - allegedly including instruction on bomb making, listing countries he considered "the enemy" and encouraging the killing of "infidels".
"This is the second occasion in which he has been convicted in absentia in Lebanon," Mr Ruddock said.
Mr Ruddock indicated Australian authorities could use evidence from the Lebanese investigation into Jamal to help their case against Khazal.
"There is a capacity under the appropriate legislation dealing with mutual co-operation in relation to the investigation of criminal offences and we do have treaties with a number of countries whereby we can share information," he said.
Khazal looked preoccupied outside his Lakemba home yesterday. "I cannot talk to you, it is against my bail," he said. "Talk to my lawyer." He then left in a blue Ford sedan.
But his solicitor, Adam Houda, of Murphy's Solicitors, said that as far as he saw it Mr Ruddock was talking nonsense. For Mr Ruddock to have given credibility to the military tribunal that convicted and sentenced Khazal was "shameful", Mr Houda said.
"He knows what pressures witnesses in those forums are under. The investigators are torturing witnesses. He knows those forums don't operate according to the rules of evidence.
"At the end of the day, Bilal is an Australian citizen. [Mr Ruddock] should stand up and say, 'You cannot touch him because this is the way our system operates'."
Mr Houda said he had read transcripts of the Lebanese proceedings against Mr Khazal and was appalled. One witness, Mr Kaaki, had denied that Mr Khazal funded terrorist activities. When it was pointed out that he had told investigators differently, Mr Kaaki had said: "The electricity made me do it!"
Mr Houda said: "It is outrageous that Bilal should have been convicted on that evidence ... When the grounds for extradition were mentioned during Bilal's bail application here, Justice Greg James would not hear it."