A Melbourne court is told a preacher, who led a failed plot to sail to the Philippines to join a militant group, doesn't fit the profile of an Islamic extremist partly because of his eclectic taste in music.
Influential extremist preacher Robert Cerantonio, who led a failed plot to sail to the Philippines in a"boat that could have sunk in a bath tub", doesn't fit the profile of an Islamic extremist partly because of his"eclectic taste" in music, his lawyer has told a Melbourne court.
Cerantonio, 34, was the leader of a group of five men arrested after towing a boat from Melbourne to Cape York in Far North Queensland in 2015. Cerantonio's plea hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court was told he had published an article a year before his arrest in which he wrote:"We as Muslims must fight the Philippine government as they are the ones who have taken control of our lands from us."Despite the extensive catalogue of extremist lectures and articles Cerantonio had published online, defence barrister Jarrod Williams told the hearing he did not fit the stereotypical profile of an Islamic extremist.
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