Yesterday, an Australian jury in Sydney found Faheem Khalid Lodhi, aged 36, from Punchbowl, but born in Pakistan, guilty of planning to carry out an organized attack on the national electricity supply lines in October 2003, marking the first case in which an Australian civilian is accused of acts of terrorism on the territory of the country.


The man, now an Australian citizen and architect, was convicted on three counts of terrorism, by a jury which needed five days, spanning on almost two weeks, in order to deliberate upon the case and reach a final verdict.

The prosecutors proved that fact that Lodhi made use of the fax at his working place in order to demand information about chemical substances that were required to make explosives. Moreover, he elaborated upon what was described as "a terrorism manual", in which he detailed the mechanisms and whole processes regarding the fabrication of poisons, explosives, detonators, plus the quantity of each component that was necessary in order to be able to kill a person, in his language, Urdu. According to Australian laws, these charges are punished by life in prison sentences.

The third count for which he was convicted referred to the fact that Lodhi purchased a map of the national electricity supply system, in order to be able to know where to place the explosives, an act which is punishable by 15 years in jail.

Moreover, the architect downloaded 38 pictures of three defense areas in Sydney from the Internet in order to expand on his terrorist attacks, but he was acquitted by the jury on this count.

Judge Anthony Whealy took Lodhi into custody, stating that he would remain in the Silverwater maximum security prison until the official sentence is formulated and he is handed over to the right jail.