{"id":430477,"date":"2026-01-22T18:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/430477\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T18:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:11:09","slug":"queensland-phd-candidate-accused-of-plotting-to-firebomb-australia-day-event-wanted-ai-driven-society-court-hears-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/430477\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland PhD candidate accused of plotting to firebomb Australia Day event wanted AI-driven society, court hears | Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Queensland<\/a> PhD candidate has been accused of planning to throw a molotov cocktail at an Australia Day crowd, as part of an alleged terrorist plot to overthrow the government and replace it with a \u201ccybernetics\u201d alternative, a court has heard.<\/p>\n

Sepehr Saryazdi, 24, allegedly planned an attack for Monday\u2019s celebrations to promote a new phase of civilisation powered by artificial intelligence, a court heard on Thursday.<\/p>\n

He has been accused of targeting a Gold Coast event, allegedly posting online that he would be leading Australia Day \u201criots\u201d on the popular tourist strip.<\/p>\n

Saryazdi appeared in Brisbane magistrates court on Thursday, hours after being charged with the preparation of or planning for a terrorist act.<\/p>\n

According to court documents, he allegedly bought bottles of alcohol, wrapping paper and a blanket between 4 and 9 January in preparation for the attack.<\/p>\n

Crown prosecutor Ellie McDonald opposed bail, telling the court Saryazdi had made \u201cextremely concerning\u201d comments in a Facebook chat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe states, \u2018I\u2019ll be leading the Gold Coast riots on January 26\u2019,\u201d McDonald told the court.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018If you know people in Melbourne let them know so they can start buying vodka bottles early and stockpiling batches\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

Saryazdi allegedly said he expected to die during the Gold Coast attack unless he was killed or lobotomised by the Australian spy agency, Asio, the court heard.<\/p>\n

He allegedly added that his actions were \u201cpurely logical given the trajectory of this nation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recommend learning how to shoot guns at shooting ranges while you can,\u201d he said on Facebook, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Saryazdi allegedly told police he saw the government as \u201cturning tyrannical\u201d and wanted to replace it with a \u201ccybernetics\u201d alternative where society was guided by AI and data analysis.<\/p>\n

He allegedly had a document titled \u201cAustralia\u2019s future cybernetics government the next phase of civilization\u201d.<\/p>\n

Saryazdi has a master of mathematical sciences from the University of Sydney, according to his online profiles.<\/p>\n

He also described himself as a PhD candidate with the CSIRO data and digital specialist arm and Australian Centre for Robotics.<\/p>\n

Saryazdi intended to make national news and bring people together with attention to his disenchantment with the government, according to his Legal Aid solicitor, Hellen Shilton.<\/p>\n

He had a very isolated lifestyle and lost contact with his parents since moving interstate to Brisbane, she told the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe became influenced a bit by the new people he associated with. He was watching videos of protests,\u201d Shilton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe admits he became quite overwhelmed emotionally. He felt he should do something with the way the world was going \u2026 it was never his intention to hurt anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the point of allegedly purchasing the alcohol and other items, reality started to sink in and he had made silly choices about his cause, his solicitor told the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has never taken part in any protests, he is obviously misguided,\u201d Shilton said.<\/p>\n

Saryazdi\u2019s argument for bail appeared at odds with his statements to police, magistrate Penelope Hay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to admissions he made that he intended to throw a molotov cocktail in a public place on Australia Day and overthrow the government?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hay denied Saryazdi bail due to the apparent strength of the prosecution case and his alleged serious link to violent offending.<\/p>\n

He was remanded in custody and is due to face court again on 20 February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queensland PhD candidate has been accused of planning to throw a molotov cocktail at an Australia Day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-430477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}