A Melbourne pizza shop worker who sent about $16,000 overseas so a contact could fight in Syria has walked from court with a community corrections order, after a judge found more jail would be "counter-productive".
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Hassan El Sabsabi, 25, was in 2014 charged with sending funds to terror organisations, but those charges were dropped by federal prosecutors. He later admitted to making a series of money transfers to US citizen Abedallah Karram, who claimed he wanted to fight against the Assad regime.
The two men met online and El Sabsabi told Karram he was unable to fight with his body, so would "fight with my wealth", the Supreme Court heard on Wednesday.
Justice Lex Lasry heard El Sabsabi's plea hearing a year ago and said on Wednesday he felt previously it was appropriate the young man be sent back to jail given the serious nature of the offences.
But he said the uncertainty El Sabsabi faced over his fate the past 12 months and the fact his rehabilitation was "well advanced" meant it would be detrimental to send him back to prison.
Lawyers for the Seabrook man had argued there was a risk their client could become more "anti-social" if he served another stint in custody and was exposed to prisoners with extreme views.
Justice Lasry sentenced El Sabsabi to 44 days in prison, already served, plus a two-year community corrections order.
After his arrest in 2014, El Sabsabi served the six weeks in custody before he was granted bail, and Justice Lasry counted that stint as time served.
El Sabsabi pleaded guilty to two counts of preparing for incursions into foreign states for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities.
The court heard El Sabsabi and Karram spoke online about Islam, the situation in the Middle East and their opposition to Bashar al-Assad's regime. He was simultaneously supportive of the UN's peace effort, the court heard, but also had sympathies for Islamic State.
After Karram outlined his plans to fight in Syria, El Sabsabi sent him money in 11 transfers. The American later sent images depicting the slaying of Syrian government troops.
Justice Lasry said it was inconsequential whether Karram was actually in Syria, as El Sabsabi believed his associate was there and sent money to someone with stated plans of fighting in an overseas conflict.
El Sabsabi was opposed to the Assad regime from previous visits to the Middle East, the court heard, and at one point considered fighting in Syria himself. He later told investigators he had seen on television violence towards "his innocent brothers and sisters" and felt it a greater crime not to send Karram money.
Justice Lasry described El Sabsabi's actions as "naive and misguided" and said although his motivations were "more honourable than others", his actions could not be excused.
But he found El Sabsabi's rehabilitation had been encouraging, that he had no prior convictions and strong family support.
El Sabsabi, who works at his family's pizza shop, must complete 250 hours of unpaid work as part of his community corrections order and report every six months to the court. He is also banned from having anything to do with Karram.
