Aran Sherani: Terror hopeful jailed for Melbourne fires, ISIS pledge

A convicted terrorist who filmed himself pledging allegiance to ISIS and threatening to burn Australian cities has been jailed.

Aran Sherani, 22, was found guilty of doing acts in preparation for a terrorist attack at trial late last year. Prior to the trial he pleaded guilty to a charge of being a member of a terrorist organisation.

Sherani’s case centred on two small bushfires lit on Melbourne’s outskirts in early 2021, with the then-18-year-old filming videos making threats and declaring allegiance to ISIS.

“You are not safe even in your cities, you are not safe, we will burn your cities … we will destroy you all,” he said.

When police attempted to arrest him in March 2021, he fled the family home on foot before purchasing a knife from a supermarket.

Holding a knife, he made a video pledging himself to ISIS and planned to use the knife to threaten police, believing he would be shot and become a martyr.

Less than an hour later he lost his nerve and was arrested without incident.

Sherani appeared in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday as Justice Amanda Fox jailed him for eight years.

“Any person who chooses to join Islamic State and commit offences in their name … must be publicly denounced,” she said.

He was supported in court by his parents and brother, Ari Sherani, who was arrested alongside Aran and acquitted on a terrorism-related charge at trial.

Justice Fox told the court Sherani that had self-radicalised and adopted the “abhorrent ideology” of the ISIS terrorist organisation in early 2020 amid the upheaval of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since he was a young boy, she said, Sherani had been passionate about the plight of the Kurdish people and believed the caliphate was “best placed” to help liberate the persecuted minority group.

By early 2021, he was communicating with other ISIS sympathisers online and members of the terror group’s propaganda outlet who encouraged him to “create a huge fire in their best places”.

“You must have known those videos would be used to promote Islamic State … logically, there is no other purpose,” Justice Fox said.

“You made a considered decision to join Islamic State, the videos you made on March 17 show the depth of your commitment.”

 

At an earlier court hearing in July, Sherani told the court that he no longer adhered to ISIS ideology.

“I distance myself from them completely. I oppose them philosophically and in every way,” he said.

Justice Fox said on the balance of probabilities, she was prepared to accept Sherani had rejected Islamic State and their violent ideology.

But she said the evidence showed he “remains a risk” of further radicalisation.

Sherani will be eligible for parole after serving six years imprisonment.

As he was led from the dock, custody officers allowed Sherani a few moments to hug and kiss his crying mother, father and brother.

“I’ll see you guys later,” he said.