The wife of a terrorist recruiter has given the one-finger ISIS salute outside court after being found guilty of refusing to stand for a judge.
Moutia Elzahed, the wife of jailed terrorist recruiter Hamdi Alqudsi, held up her index finger – which was covered completely in a black glove – to awaiting crowds.
Wearing an ink black burqa, the 50-year-old Muslim woman walked away from the Sydney Downing Centre Court as she continued to perform the ISIS salute.
The wife of a terrorist recruiter has given the one-finger Islamic State salute (pictured) outside court after being found guilty of disrespectful behaviour
Moutia Elzahed (left), the wife of jailed Islamic State extremist Hamdi Alqudsi, held up her index finger – which was covered completely in a black glove – to awaiting crowds
Ms Elzahad (pictured), who arrived in court dressed in a full black veil and surrounded by supporters, is the first person convicted of contempt of court in NSW on religious grounds
The single finger salute of a right hand represents tawhid, a key component of Muslim religion, and signifies ‘ISIS’ violent and uncompromising posture’ towards ‘the destruction of the West’, according to Foreign Affairs.
The Muslim woman’s decision to use the ISIS salute appears to reflect the moment her husband performed the same gesture moments before he was sentenced for eight years.
Elzahed’s husband, Alqudsi, who was found guilty of recruiting terrorist fighters in 2016, held up his index finger to Supreme Court Judge Christine Adamson while he stood in the dock.
The traditional Islamic gesture has been used by a number of Islamic State fighters which reportedly shows their belief towards world domination.
Elzahed is the first person in New South Wales to face the charge after she refused to rise for a judge in 2016 purportedly on religious grounds.
The 50-year-old woman was found guilty in the Downing Centre Local Court of nine counts of disrespectful behaviour in court.
Elzahed again did not stand but folded her arms when magistrate Carolyn Huntsman left the bench after delivering her ruling on Friday.
The Muslim woman’s decision to use the ISIS salute appears to reflect the moment her husband (pictured 2016) performed the same gesture moments before being sentenced
Elzahed’s husband, Alqudsi (pictured), who was found guilty of recruiting terrorist fighters in 2016, held up his index finger to Supreme Court Judge Christine Adamson while at the dock
Ms Elzahed (pictured) reportedly told the court she only stood for Allah and gave the single finger ISIS salute to awaiting crowds outside the Sydney Downing Centre Court
The single finger salute of a right hand represents tawhid, a key component of Muslim religion, and signifies ISIS’ violence and ‘the destruction of the West’
Last week, the devout Muslim’s lawyer told the NSW Court of Appeal she could not give ‘crucial’ evidence about her version of what police did during the September 2014 raid
The magistrate had found Elzahed intentionally flouted the established court convention on nine separate occasions in 2016 when she remained seated in front of District Court Judge Audrey Balla.
Elzahed said she only stood for Allah, but Ms Huntsman on Friday ruled there was no evidence she was acting on a genuine religious belief or that the teachings of Islam compelled such behaviour.
Last December the Australian National Imams Council said Islamic defendants have no faith-based reason not to stand before a judge or uncover their faces while giving testimony.
In 2016, Elzahed had been trying to sue the state and federal governments over claims of police violence during a raid on her Sydney home two years earlier. She was ultimately unsuccessful.
WHAT IS THE ISLAMIC STATE ONE FINGER SALUTE?
The traditional Islamic gesture of raising a single index finger has been widely adopted by Islamic State fighters.
The salute refers to the tawhid – a belief in the oneness of God – and is a key component of the Islamic religion.
The tawhid is the first half of the shahada, an affirmation of faith which is one of the five pillars of Islam and a part of the daily prayer ritual.
‘There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.’
But for ISIS the symbol is more sinister.
Members of the terrorist group use the gesture to communicate their violent and uncompromising posture towards its adversaries in the West.
It is an active reaffirmation that they are dedicated to their ideology which ‘demands the destruction of the West’.
The salute is used heavily in ISIS propaganda material, with militants seen holding their finger up alongside macabre beheading scenes.
The traditional Islamic gesture of raising an index finger – which refers to the tawhid or ‘the belief in the oneness of God’ – has been adopted by Islamic State fighters (left)
Source: ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam By Erick Stakelbeck
CCTV footage previously played in court showed Elzahed failed to rise nine times in November and December 2016 with each offence carrying a maximum jail term of 14 days and/or a $1,100 fine.
The defence had originally cast doubt over whether Elzahed was the woman under the black niqab but her lawyer later conceded her identity would no longer be contested.
Defence barrister David Hume instead argued his client should be acquitted because there was no evidence Elzahed was under a legal duty to stand.
Elzahed, who lost her civil action and was ordered to pay $250,000 in police legal costs, earlier this week appealed the trial judge’s ruling that she could not give evidence while wearing a niqab.
Elzahed refused to stand in front of District Court Judge Audrey Balla on nine separate occasions in 2016 when she remained seated
The Muslim woman claimed it was because of religious belief but Australian National Imams Council said Islamic defendants have no faith-based reason not to stand before a judge
Elzahed lost her civil action and was ordered to pay $250,000 in police legal costs (pictured)