A Sydney university student who faces terrorism charges over an alleged plot to kill former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has been granted bail after the sole piece of evidence against him was found to be “inconclusive”.
PhD student Mohamed Kamer Nizamdeen, 25, was arrested in August after a colleague found a notebook allegedly containing details of plans to kill Turnbull and attack iconic landmarks such as the Opera House.
Police accused him of planning an Islamic State inspired, lone-wolf attack.
But on Friday a court heard the sole piece of evidence against Nizamdeen – a notebook in which police alleged he had laid out his plot – was not his handwriting.
“The prosecution has become aware that an expert handwriting examiner found an inconclusive result on the relevant entries contained in the notebook,” the police prosecutor told the central local court in Sydney according to the ABC.
“Without a conclusive expert opinion suggesting the defendant was the relevant author, evidence for the charge has been significantly weakened.
“The prosecution concedes these are exceptional circumstances.”
The ABC reported that the court heard other material belonging to Nizamdeen including his computer and mobile phone did not reveal any extremist ideology.
After the hearing Nizamdeen’s lawyer, Moustafa Kheir, said his client had been “granted bail because the case against was extremely weak, almost non-existent”.
“We’ll be continuing to fight until all charges are dropped and he is completely exonerated,” he said.
“You’ve got an expert saying it’s not his handwriting at this stage. So there’s no handwriting match on the notes at all.”
He later Tweeted that the police case was “hopeless”.
“Bail granted to my client Mohamad Nizamdeen today,” he wrote.
“Police case is hopeless, as notes in question are not his! We will continue to seek justice until my client is fully exonerated.”
Nizamdeen has spent the last four weeks in jail while his family and supporters have maintained he is innocent. Last week, people in his hometown in Sri Lanka protested his treatment in prison.
A Sri Lankan national, Nizamdeen has been in Australia on a student visa completing his post-graduate studies. He has no criminal history, and had appeared in online promotional material for the University of New South Wales, where he worked.
The matter will return to court in October.
