Australian Court Sentences Bangladeshi Woman for IS-inspired Attack
New South Wales Police Force Ford Falcon car, Australia. Photo: Highway Patrol Images / .flickr.
A Bangladeshi woman who stabbed a man in an Islamic State-inspired attack just days after arriving in Australia last year was sentenced by a Melbourne court to 42 years in prison on terror-related charges, police in Dhaka confirmed Wednesday.
Defendant Momena Shoma, 26, admitted to engaging in a terrorist act when she stabbed Roger Singaravelu, her host, in the neck with a kitchen knife eight days after arriving in Victoria state from Bangladesh on a student visa in early 2018, according to media reports from Australia.
“Shoma was punished in accordance with the laws of Australia. We have nothing to say about the conviction,” Md. Haider Ali Khan, Bangladesh’s assistant police inspector-general said.
“The Australian government sought information about Momena Shoma from us. We cooperated with the government regarding counter-terrorism issues as we maintain zero tolerance in this regard. We share intelligence with Australia and other countries,” he told BenarNews.
Australian police filed terrorism charges against Shoma after she stabbed Singaravelu on Feb. 10, 2018, while he was asleep at his home. Authorities in Australia alleged that she had been inspired by the extremist group Islamic State (IS) to carry out the stabbing, according to local reports. Days later, police in Bangladesh arrested her younger sister after she tried to stab an officer who sought information about Shoma.
“Your deeds and words, and the intentions accompanying them, are chilling,” Judge Lesley Taylor of the Supreme Court of Victoria said Wednesday while handing down the 42-year sentence, with a non-parole period of 31 years and six months, according to Agence France-Presse.
The defendant had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Full story: BenarNews
BenarNews staff
Washington. Kamran Reza Chowdhury in Dhaka contributed to this report.
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