The trial of a Sydney man accused of helping men travel to Syria to fight has started, with the defence lawyer for Hamdi Alqudsi asking the jury to be open to other reasons why people might go to the war torn country.
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Mr Alqudsi, 41, of St Helens Park has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of performing services for a person with the intent to promote or support foreign hostile acts.
His defence lawyer, Scott Corish, said the Crown's case that Mr Alqudsi recruited seven men to fight in Syria was just a "theory" and that his client's intention was the "key issue".
"As I expect you will hear in due course Syria isn't just full of people engaged in armed combat. There is possibly up to four million people, civilians, in need of humanitarian aid," Mr Corish said during his opening of the trial in the Supreme Court in Parramatta.
"Just because someone goes to Syria doesn't mean they are going to fight.
"Could there be another reason to go and somehow help these people ... in need of humanitarian aid and who in fact are in harm's way?"
The Crown's case is that Mr Alqudsi made arrangements for seven men to travel to Syria to take up armed hostilities throughout 2013.
Prosecutor David Staehli SC said Mr Alqudsi helped the men arrange to fly from Australia, enter Turkey and cross the border into Syria.
"Mr Alqudsi was involved, in our case, in making arrangements for those men to meet up with people who were themselves engaged in armed hostilities in Syria," Mr Staehli said.
The case against Mr Alqudsi will rely on the alleged communications, some including background noise of tanks and people being killed, with fighters in Syria, Mr Staehli said.
He mentioned to one fighter in Syria, Mr Staehli said, that "he had four brothers or boys coming to that part of the world".
"In those circumstances you would be able to conclude very shortly that Mr Alqudsi knew what the purpose was for these men to prepare to go to Syria and he assisted with that knowledge," he said.
Intercepted text messages and phone calls, WhatsApp and Skype conversations and jihadist literature found on hard drives will be presented as evidence to the court.
Mr Staehli told the court that whether the men Mr Alqudsi helped, one of whom was stopped from leaving Australia, actually fought in Syria did not affect the Crown's case.
"Mr Alqudsi knew what the purpose was for these men to go to Syria and he assisted them in that knowledge," Mr Staehli said.
The trial continues.
