“In the boy’s case, he was reportedly given a gym membership, given religious guidance and had regular visits and phone calls from community contact police.” What? He got a gym membership and he still tried to wage jihad against Infidels? Doesn’t he know that the Qur’an says to wage war against and subjugate non-Muslims, unless they give you a gym membership?

(Note for the incurably literal-minded: it doesn’t really say that.)

“Boy, 16, arrested over ‘Anzac Day terror plot’ was in deradicalisation program,” by Rachel Olding, Sydney Morning Herald, April 26, 2016:

A 16-year-old boy arrested over an alleged Anzac Day terrorism plot had been in a government-run deradicalisation program for about a year.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, chose not to appear in Parramatta Children’s Court on Tuesday for a brief mention two days after his arrest.

His lawyer, Zemarai Khatiz, entered a not guilty plea to one charge of doing an act in preparation or planning for a terrorist act, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Zemarai Khatiz, the lawyer for the 16-year-old terrorist suspect.

Mr Khatiz said a psychologist with more than 38 years’ experience would assess the boy in prison this week to support an application for bail on Friday.

The boy was arrested near his Auburn home Sunday afternoon, just hours after police allegedly intercepted an online chat he was having with a man overseas in which he mentioned trying to obtain a firearm and targeting an Anzac Day event on Monday.

He was not considered a “prime target” for counter-terrorism officers but had been on their radar for about a year.

The boy’s father was interviewed anonymously by The Australian in December about a deradicalisation program in which his son had been placed after extremists allegedly tried to involve him in a foiled plot in May last year.

He said his son was bullied at school and spent a lot of time in his room. However, he spoke about the dramatic progress the boy had made after ASIO and the police intervened, including the boy starting an electrician’s apprenticeship and going to English-language sermons at a mosque with his father.

“[It is] the worst thing, but also the best thing … because, potentially­, it enabled him to come out of that shell, or wherever he was, and see that he could get it out,” the father said of the program.

The article lauded the government’s National Disruption Group, a $15 million inter-agency taskforce set up by the federal government and led by the Australian Federal Police.

Authorities can refer potential extremists to the diversionary program, and a suite of agencies come up with a tailored program for the individual.

In the boy’s case, he was reportedly given a gym membership, given religious guidance and had regular visits and phone calls from community contact police….