July 17 2003

The letter is unsigned. It demands in the name of "Allah the most gracious, the most merciful" the release of all Muslim prisoners from NSW jails.

The letter, addressed to the Corrective Services Commissioner, Ron Woodham, states that if the demand is not met "we will attack and bomb the people of Australia".

Bilal Skaf, who is serving 40 years in jail as the leader of a gang who pack-raped young girls in Sydney in 2000, faced court yesterday accused of being the author of the threat.

The letter, which also allegedly contained a white powder, was found in an internal prison mail box in the high security "Supermax" prison at Goulburn jail on December 4 last year.

It was not until March that police charged 21-year-old Skaf with making the threats.


But yesterday, magistrate Robert Rabbidge gave Skaf permission to have an unexpected day out of his sentence when he ordered that he be brought in person to the court in September for a one-day hearing of the threat case.

The order was made when Skaf appeared before Mr Rabbidge via a video link from Goulburn jail to Goulburn court.

The charge stated that Skaf's letter was intended to induce the false belief that the powder " was likely to be a danger to the safety of Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham and certain property".

The letter demanded that all Muslim prisoners be released from jail by January this year.

"Every inmate will be accounted by us. If you choose to follow instructions the people of Australia will be safe. If directions are failed to be complied with we will surely show yous [sic] an example," it said.

"If you and the racists of Australia follow instructions given by us then surely there shall be no sorrow . . . we will attack and bomb the people of Australia if our directions are not complied with . . . the people of Sydney are not safe."

Skaf indicated through his solicitor David Tyler that he would plead not guilty.

A request that the charge be dealt with in a one-day hearing before a magistrate on September 12, and not before a District Court jury, was granted.

Skaf asked that he be aided at his defence by a fellow prisoner, Bassam Hamzy, 24.

But Mr Rabbidge expressed doubts that Hamzy, sentenced in March last year to 21 years for the murder of a teenager at a city nightclub and for seeking to have a witness killed, would be allowed to represent Skaf.

A Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor, Brett Diggins, said the two inmates would "pose a massive security problem". He said prosecutors would call six witnesses, including two handwriting experts.

Last September, Skaf's mother was banned from jail visits for two years after being caught trying to smuggle out a letter to her son's fiance and a drawing of his cell.

 http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/16/1058035079039.html