‘I believe in Christ, what he did on the cross’: Convicted jihadi denies he’s ‘pretending to be Christian’ to get a lighter sentence for plotting a terror attack
- A convicted terrorist denies he is faking his newfound faith in Christianity
- Prosecutors allege he is attempting to fool the court to reduce his sentence
- Sameh Bayda and his wife referred to themselves as ‘jihadi Bonnie and Clyde’
A convicted terrorist who once proclaimed he and his wife were the ‘jihadi Bonnie and Clyde’ denies his newfound Christianity is a plot to reduce his sentence.
Sameh Bayda and his wife Alo-Bridget Namoa, both aged 21, were found guilty of conspiring to carry out a terror attack in Sydney on New Year’s Eve 2015, and are currently awaiting sentencing.
During a sentencing hearing Bayda and his wife both renounced their Islamic faith.
Bayda said he turned to Christianity while in incarceration, and told the court he regularly reads the Bible.
‘I believe in Christ, what he did on the Cross,’ he testified under oath.
Sameh Bayda (left) and his wife Alo-Bridget Namoa (right), both aged 21, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to carry out a terror attack in Sydney on New Year’s Eve 2015
But crown prosecutor Nicholas Robinson questioned the legitimacy of his claim during a sentencing hearing in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.
Mr Robinson said: ‘Your assertion you have found Christianity is no more than a pretence to mitigate the penalty you fear you may face,’ The Daily Telegraph reported.
Bayda denied the prosecution’s allegations, instead insisting he regularly visits the prison chaplain and wanted to embrace the new religion.
He said while he still loved his bride Namoa, he no longer recognised their marriage, because it was completed under Shariah law.
‘The marriage was broken since we have both left the religion,’ he said.
Bayda has since renounced his Islamic faith and turned to Christianity in the time that he has been detained, and told the court he regularly reads the Bible
On the first day of their trial Mr Robinson said the pair had a large volume of extremist material including Islamic State and al-Qaeda magazines.
‘They considered Islam under attack around the world and they had an obligation to respond,’ the prosecutor told the jury on Monday.
Mr Robinson said a ‘goodbye note’ Namoa had written to her husband was found on one of the couple’s phones, while Namoa authored a neatly handwritten and unsigned note found at Bayda’s home.
Addressed to ‘my Boo Boo’, the handwritten note in effect told Bayda she’d never give evidence against him.
‘Allah is my legislator, I don’t follow their corrupt laws,’ the note stated, according to the prosecutor.
Mr Robinson said the evidence included thousands of images, numerous graphic videos of executions and other deaths, and social media profiles that showed the pair had adopted alternate names or kunya.