The family of a Sydney student charged with training under banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba said on Sunday he was being used as a political scapegoat ahead of Australian elections this year.
The family of Izharul Haq, among five men reportedly being monitored on suspicion of belonging to a Sydney-based terrorist cell linked to Frenchman Willie Brigitte, insisted charges against him were baseless.
Haq, 21, has been charged with training at a Lashkar camp in Pakistan in January last year but his family said he was merely visiting the country where he was born to attend his brother's engagement ceremony.
"Izhar has no connections with any terrorist organisation and is being made a scapegoat because of his honesty and openness," the family told a local newspaper in a written statement.
Haq's lawyer Adam Hudda, speaking on behalf of the student's family, said his client was simply a medical student who had never been in trouble with the law.
"A message to the Howard government: please don't use my client's case as a vehicle for your election campaign. This is a young man's life you're destroying."
Haq is the first person charged under tightened terrorist laws introduced after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and he faces 25 years in prison if convicted.
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