Australian police drops charges against Kamer Nizamdeen

Colombo (News1st): Australian Police have dropped terror charges against Mohamed Kamer Nizamdeen, a university student who was accused of an assassination plot targeting Australian politicians. Nizamdeen, a 25-year-old Ph.D. student, was arrested in August and accused of plotting lone-wolf attacks targeting the Opera House, other notable landmarks, and the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. The prosecution relied almost exclusively on a notebook police said contained details of the plot. According to Kamer's lawyers the evidence against Nizamdeen was fundamentally flawed and handwriting experts were unable to link the writing in the notebook to Nizamdeen. Nizamdeen’s lawyers had earlier described the case as “extremely weak, almost non-existent”, while successfully arguing for bail last month. Prosecutors dropped the charges and withdrew the case. Speaking outside court, Nizamdeen’s lawyer, Moustafa Kheir, flagged potential civil action over his client’s treatment and said he would also apply for his legal costs & will be seeking justice for him in the NSW supreme court. Nizamdeen spent about four weeks in jail before being bailed last month.