Millions from around the world commemorated Anzac Day to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli. If he is convicted, the penalty is life in prison.
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ABC reported the teen allegedly sent messages on an encrypted mobile app, trying to obtain a gun.
The Australian Minster for Justice, Michael Keenan, called the case a “chilling and disturbing scenario”.
“The 16-year-old boy does not have any convictions at all, he has never been in trouble with the police previously nor has any of his family”, his lawyer, Zemarai Khatiz, told Fairfax Media outside court.
Australia’s terror alert level remains at “probable” which indicates credible intelligence that individuals or groups have developed both the intent and capability to conduct a terrorist attack in Australia.
The Sydney teenager charged with plotting a lone-wolf terror attack on Anzac Day will plead not guilty, according to reports in Australian media.
The boy was charged overnight with one count of preparing for, or planning a terrorism act.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told a crowd at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra Australia and its allies are battling “a new war against terrorism”.
While this day originally commemorated dawn landings for a wartime campaign in Turkey in 1915, the day now acknowledges all ANZACs who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.
Police said those planning the attack a year ago clearly took inspiration from the Islamic State movement, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
Australian authorities have increased security around the Anzac commemorations. We will run a special feature in Monday’s paper, and we would love to share your photos as part of our Anzac Day coverage.
“Unfortunately, this is part of a pattern that we have been observing, where younger and younger people are targeted and incited to go and commit an act of terror”, he said.
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“When we reflect on Anzac Day we imagine the Gallipoli landings, what it must have been like, at dawn on the water, in sight of that rugged shoreline – and a collectively held breath, a leaden silence about to be broken”, he said.
