A convicted terrorist has renounced his ties with the Islamic State but remains in solitary confinement after being accused of radicalizing fellow inmates.
In 2023, Aran Sherani was found guilty by a jury of preparing for a terrorist act. He had filmed himself in 2021 pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, brandishing a knife, and boasting about evading police.
I slipped away, and by the will of Allah, I was able to even go to a shop nearby my home and get this,” Sherani said in the footage, displaying a knife to the camera.
In the same year, he was seen in a grassy field holding the knife in what his lawyers described as an attempt to provoke a police response, potentially a fatal one, for his ideological cause. However, Sherani eventually abandoned his plan and fled before being apprehended.
Sherani later pleaded guilty to being a member of a terrorist organization. He also admitted to being the individual in a video setting two bushfires in Melbourne’s north in February 2021, claiming civilians would “taste the fire of Allah.
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Despite these admissions, Sherani and his older brother, Ari Sherani, who filmed one of the videos, were acquitted of attempting to commit terrorist acts.
During a plea hearing at the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday, Aran Sherani renounced the Islamic State. When asked about the organization’s treatment of non-Muslims, he responded, “They’re very barbaric.
“I’ve distanced myself from them completely and oppose them philosophically in every way,” Sherani told Judge Amanda Fox. “Their idea of jihad is very rigid, which, since I’ve been in prison, I’ve come to understand in a different way.”
Sherani explained that the organization was solely focused on warfare and fighting. “Even if that meant they would be rulers of a wasteland, that would be fine by them,” he said. “Back then, the end goal didn’t matter. It was the jihad that mattered.”
In October 2023, Sherani was moved back to the Charlotte unit of Port Phillip Prison and placed in solitary confinement after being accused of recruiting or radicalizing individuals, though no specific details were provided, he said. He claimed his brain has “turned to mush” since the isolation began.
Sherani, who is ethnically Kurdish, identified with the historically oppressed and stateless Kurdish people. He initially believed the Islamic State could help overthrow what he perceived as a corrupt regime in Kurdistan.
His lawyers argued that the videos were intended to prove his allegiance to IS, with the ultimate goal of leaving Australia. Sherani sought a sense of identity and purpose, and the bushfire videos were not meant to harm anyone but to gain IS membership, according to his barrister, Patrick Doyle SC.
At the time, Sherani naively believed the police would shoot him for merely threatening them with a knife, Doyle explained. “He still doesn’t understand psychologically how he got in this state,” Doyle told the court. “By the time police arrived, he’s on the other side of the creek. He’s not seeking them out. He knows they’re coming.”
Doyle emphasized that Sherani was the only person at risk of dying if he had gone through with his plan to threaten the police.
The plea hearing continues.
