Mohammad Emad Ahmadzai, 30, from the Melbourne suburb of Roxburgh Park, is charged by the Australian Federal Police at the Melbourne International Airport on September 13, 2026. Courtesy of Australian Federal Police
The lawyer of a man accused of possessing ISIS beheading propaganda has questioned what proof police have that he supports a terrorist organisation.
He sought bail on Sept. 15 after being charged with possessing violent extremist material and failing to provide access to his electronic devices on request.
Federal police on May 7 raided the Roxburgh Park home he shared with his brother and seized two phones, a tablet and a broomstick with a screwdriver head, Sergeant James Allison told the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
The brother complied with a police order to provide the password to his phone but Ahmadzai allegedly refused officers access to his phone and tablet.
Authorities eventually gained access to his phone but only analysed the contents on Aug. 7, allegedly discovering the violent extremism material after Ahmadzai had flown back from a trip to Afghanistan, Allison said.
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Border force officials allegedly found a flag of the prescribed terror organisation Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, triggering police to look at the phone data.
Videos on his seized phone allegedly showed a hostage being shot in the head at close range, beheadings, throat cuttings, mass casualties, deceased children in Gaza and ISIS flags and logos.
Border force seized a second phone and a bubble-wrapped desktop computer in his luggage, which federal police are yet to analyse.
Allison on Sept. 15 labelled the alleged materials “very offensive, very extreme” and “quite horrific.”
“It is a threat to the community if someone has that interest,” he said.
Opposing bail, prosecutor Bridget Atkinson said Ahmadzai’s alleged offending was “not just a passing interest in an extremist ideology.”
“The material was found on two phones over several months and are linked to two separate prescribed terror organisations,” she said.
But defence lawyer Siobhan Stary questioned what evidence showed Ahmadzai expressed any support for any terror organisation.
It was unclear where the videos were located on Ahmadzai’s device, apart from him receiving some through WhatsApp, and whether he was actively engaging with the material, she said.
“There is no evidence, at this stage, that the material was either shared or possessed for the purposes of its ideological content,” Stary told the court.
Magistrate Samantha Seoud will deliver her bail ruling on Sept. 17.
Adian Sarwari, Sulaiman Sarwari, Azan Syed and Ahmadzai’s brother—Mohammad Solaiman Salahuddin Ahmadzai—have also been charged with possessing violent extremist material offences.
By William Ton in Melbourne
