[JURIST] An Australian jury on Monday convicted radical cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika [BBC profile] and five other Muslims in that country's highest-profile terrorism trial to date. Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, was found guilty [charge list] in the Supreme Court of Victoria [official website] on charges of directing the activities of a terrorist organization, belonging to a terrorist organization and possessing a thing connected with preparation for a terrorist act. Four other defendants were acquitted, while verdicts had not been delivered for two more. The group was accused of plotting in 2005 to assassinate then-Prime Minister John Howard [official profile; JURIST news archive] and to bomb major sporting events. Australian Attorney General Robert McClelland [official profile] said at a press conference [transcript]:

It is my view that the successful prosecution in the Pendennis trials is the most successful terrorist prosecution that this country has seen. It involved obviously a number of individuals but it also evidenced a degree of organisation that our law enforcement agencies have been able to - able to prevent developing. And, as I say, we must be alive to the fact that not only would a terrorist event cause injury and death and destruction, it would be enormously damaging to our social fabric.