Updated
The brother of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja has been re-arrested for breaching bail conditions.
Key points:
- Arsalan Khawaja is charged with breach of bail and influencing a witness in judicial proceedings
- On the original charges he was not accused of intending to carry out the attack, but of framing a colleague
- Police dropped charges against Mohamed Nizamdeen after a handwriting expert could not prove he penned the material
Arsalan Khawaja was charged for allegedly attempting to influence a witness in a New South Wales joint counter-terrorism investigation.
Officers arrested the 39-year-old man in a home in Westmead on Thursday afternoon.
He was charged with breach of bail and influencing a witness in judicial proceedings.
He is due to appear in court in Parramatta on Friday.
Arsalan Khawaja was charged on December 4 in Sydney as part of an investigation into a notebook allegedly outlining plans to kill senior politicians that led to the wrongful imprisonment of a UNSW employee.
NSW Police detained him over the alleged terror hit list, which was found in an office in the same building as the university’s library earlier this year.
The book contained plans to kill the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, his then-deputy Julie Bishop and former speaker Bronwyn Bishop, as well as a blueprint to target train stations and Sydney landmarks such as the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
He was charged with perverting the course of justice and forgery making a document.
When he appeared in court on December 4, he did not say anything but listened attentively from the dock, dressed in a white open-necked shirt.
He was granted bail on condition that he surrendered his passport, did not go within 100 metres of the University of New South Wales and did not contact colleagues in the university IT department.
He was also required to post a surety of $50,000 in cash.
The ABC understands the allegation against Arsalan Khawaja was not that he intended to carry out a terror attack, but that he framed his colleague, 25-year-old Mohamed Nizamdeen.
It is understood he was motivated by jealousy over Mr Nizamdeen’s friendship with a woman and his success at the university.
Mr Nizamdeen spent a month in solitary confinement at Goulburn supermax jail before he was released when terrorism charges were dropped against him in October.
He strenuously denied any involvement and is now planning to sue police, previously describing the investigation as “immature, embarrassing and biased”.
Usman Khawaja is currently playing in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Topics:
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