Uproar as Australian terrorism suspects appear in court - Summary

Sydney - Five Australian men arrested in a swoop on a suspected Melbourne terrorist cell have been charged with plotting a suicide attack on an army base in Sydney that police said Wednesday might have been just weeks away. Police allege the five, Australian citizens of either Somali or Lebanese descent who had been under surveillance since January, had sought the blessing of a Muslim leader for their plan to burst into the base and open fire on soldiers.
"It will be alleged that they had access to domestic-type weapons," counterterrorism police spokesman Peter Dein said. "There was no evidence that we had at this stage they had access to automatic weapons, but it will be alleged they were certainly planning to get access somehow."
The men have links to the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab, which is now expected to be added to a list of banned groups that includes al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist organizations. "This has been the subject of some internal deliberations within the government," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said of the al-Shabaab ban. The prime minister also ordered a review of security at military bases after it was revealed that Sydney's Holsworthy Barracks was guarded by unarmed security personnel provided by a private firm. Wissam Fattal, 33, shouted out in court after he was formally charged with committing an act in preparation for a terrorist act. You send troops to Iraq to kill innocent people. You call me a terrorist. I have never killed a person in my life," Fattal shouted, before launching into a rant about Australian soldiers killing innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel grabbing Palestinian land by force.
Fattal, who was admonished for a lack of respect by Magistrate Peter Reardon for his refusal to stand when the charges were read out, yelled "Take me from this land!" as he was led from the court.