A Gold Coast man charged with sharing violent extremist material online has been granted bail.
Mohamed Ghassan Eltatary, 19, faced the Southport Magistrates Court on Friday, charged with five terror offences after an overnight raid by multiple law enforcement agencies.
The court heard he was a student pilot who worked at the airport and had security clearance.
He is charged with four counts of using a carriage service for violent extremist material and one count of possessing or controlling violent extremist material.
The 19-year-old’s supporters outside court. (ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)
Earlier search
Mr Eltatary was arrested following a raid on a Pacific Pines home on Thursday by the Australian Federal Police, Queensland Joint Counter Terrorism Team and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
Authorities said they had begun investigating Mr Eltatary on January 6 after he allegedly posted content that could be considered antisemitic and pro-Hamas on the social media site Discord.
The court heard police seized the allegedly violent extremist material on Mr Eltatary’s phones and computer during a search of his parents’ home on April 29.
He had allegedly sent the material to his sister and father on three occasions in May, June and September 2024.
In opposing bail, Crown prosecutor Sam Poplawski said the charges “fall under the umbrella of terrorism” and that Mr Eltatary presented an “unacceptable risk of reoffending”.
He said such offending was “difficult to detect and monitor”, but “easy to commit”.
Mr Poplawski said Mr Eltatary was fixated and immersed with the material and that authorities had found a deleted video matching the description of violent extremist material during Thursday’s raid.
The court also heard Mr Eltatary had accessed videos of the Christchurch massacre at age 12.
His internet search history allegedly also included the terms mass stabbing, mass shooting, genocide, holocaust, how to purchase knives and how to purchase Hamas headbands.
He had also allegedly searched the location of Israel’s embassy in Australia.
The court heard Mr Eltatary was a student pilot and that he had undergone a psychiatric report at the request of Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
But defence counsel Anthony J Kimmins said that report was “tame” and that a separate psychiatric assessment was conducted at the request of Mr Eltatary’s solicitor.
He said there were indications Mr Eltatary had “problems with his mental health”, but that he had no prior convictions and was a “very young man”.
Mr Kimmins said authorities arrested Mr Eltatary after his family told his solicitor that they intended to travel to Thailand next week.
Magistrate Louisa Pink said the material was “disturbing and confronting”, but that the risk of Mr Eltatary reoffending could be ameliorated with bail conditions.
He was released on bail on the condition he access only one phone and one computer, and provide police with access to the devices at their request.
Mr Eltatary is not permitted to enter or attempt to enter an airplane and must report to police three times a week.
He is not allowed to access encrypted messaging apps, nor leave the country.
Mr Eltatary is due to return to court on December 15.
‘Spot the early signs’
There are 31 organisations in Australia listed as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code.
Authorities said the 19-year-old allegedly shared material from Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage in 2023.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said he was concerned about the rising volume of violent extremist material which young Australians could access.
“We cannot emphasise enough the importance of parents, schools, health and social services, and technology companies playing a role in preventing access to, and the consumption of, violent extremist material online and to spot the early signs of radicalisation,” he said.