Queensland man accused of plotting molotov attack at Gold Coast Australia Day event

Sepehr Saryazdi, 24, has been accused of planning to throw a molotov cocktail at an Australia Day crowd on the Gold Coast and was charged with the preparation of or planning for a terrorist act, a Brisbane magistrates court heard on Thursday. Court documents allege Saryazdi bought bottles of alcohol, wrapping paper and a blanket between 4 and 9 January in preparation for the attack and posted online that he would be leading Australia Day “riots” on the popular tourist strip.

Crown prosecutor Ellie McDonald opposed bail, telling the court Saryazdi had made “extremely concerning” comments in a Facebook chat, including “I’ll be leading the Gold Coast riots on January 26” and urging others to “start buying vodka bottles early and stockpiling batches”. The court heard he allegedly expected to die during the Gold Coast attack unless he was killed or lobotomised by the Australian spy agency Asio and that his actions were “purely logical given the trajectory of this nation”.

He allegedly told police he saw the government as “turning tyrannical” and wanted to replace it with a “cybernetics” alternative guided by AI and data analysis, and had a document titled “Australia’s future cybernetics government the next phase of civilization”. According to his online profiles he holds a Master of Mathematical Sciences from the University of Sydney and described himself as a PhD candidate with the CSIRO data and digital specialist arm and Australian Centre for Robotics.

Key Topics

Politics, Sepehr Saryazdi, Gold Coast, Australia Day, Asio, Csiro