The Central Local Court heard evidence from a Sydney man on Wednesday against Omarjan Azari and Ali al-Talebi, who allegedly directed the young man to transfer cash to bank accounts linked to the terrorist organisation Islamic State. The man told the court that the money was intended to help the transport of people from Pakistan to Syria to join the group as fighters.

The courtroom was heavily guarded. The witness’ identity has been suppressed for security reasons. The man appeared in a crisp dark suit to give evidence against the duo, who apparently ordered him to send the funds in two separate cash transfers of $3,000 via Western Union offices in August 2014.

The court heard that another attempt of transferring an amount of US$9,000 (approx. AU$13,000) in September did not work out when the man learnt that he would be required to pay a huge bank fee for transferring the amount. He told police that when his mother discovered the money in his shorts while cleaning his rooms, he got frightened and lied about a friend who wanted to transfer the money to his parents overseas through him.

The man admitted the he had no clue on which side of the war the fighters were on.

The man’s house was raided in September 2014 as part of the largest counter-terrorism raids in the history of Australia and the man’s father arranged a lawyer for him and he was granted immunity against prosecution on grounds of testifying against Azari and Al-Talebi.

The witness also said that Azari admitted to him that he supported the ISIS and used to be very happy whenever the group posted a victory. "His religious views were in line with those of ISIS," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying.

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