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'Jihadi Bonnie and Clyde' Who Planned NYE Terror Attack in Oz Could Go Free

A young couple's phones contained videos of Islamic scholars quoting Koran verses, which "inspired serious crimes," according to a Supreme Court of New South Wale judge, who jailed the pair on Thursday.
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However, Sameh Bayda and Alo-Bridget Namoa, both 21 — who planned a street attack on non-Muslims in 2015 in Sydney and subsequently imprisoned — could now walk free.

Both are eligible for parole, after already having served their sentence, since their arrest. 

Bayda was jailed for four years, with a non-parole period of three years, which expired on 25 January.

His accomplice, Namoa, was jailed for three years and nine months, with a non-parole period of two years and 10 months, which expired on 22 January.

The couple, who dubbed themselves an "Islamic Bonnie and Clyde," failed to carry out the planned attack, despite Bayda wanting to become a martyr and Namoa encouraging him to go through with it.

"Terrorists' reliance on verses of the Koran to support an Islamic duty of religious violence has been seen with more or less clarity in a number of NSW and Victorian cases," Justice Des Fagan said in the NSW Supreme Court.

The content of their mobile phones presented to the court revealed a vast amount of extremist material and messages.

"If the verses upon which the terrorists rely are not binding commands of Allah, it is Muslims who would have to say so. If Australian followers of the religion, including those who profess deep knowledge, were to make a clear public disavowal of these verses, as not authoritative instructions from Allah, then the terrorists' moral conviction might be weakened," Justice Des Fagan said.

"As seen in this and numerous other prosecutions, the hostile verses (in the Koran) are inspiring serious crimes," he added.

In the past two years, a number of terror attacks took place in Australia, including cases of hostage taking, shooting and stabbing.

READ MORE: Australia Moves to Strip Terror Suspects of Citizenship After Melbourne Attack

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