A Sydney man accused of preparing to go to Syria to fight for Islamic State has told a jury he went along with an undercover operation because he wanted to expose the chip inside his brain.
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Moudasser Taleb has pleaded not guilty to preparing to travel to Syria for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities between early February and mid-June 2017.
The 24-year-old was arrested at Sydney Airport on June 15 with a bag containing military clothing, a sleeping bag, a solar charger and other gear, following a months-long undercover police operation.
He told the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday that at the time of his arrest he believed he had an electronic chip implanted in his brain which allowed "everyone around him" to hear his thoughts.
"It is hard to explain how I was thinking. If ordinary people are spying on me then obviously authorities are too," he said.
Taleb - whose sole occupation was as a carer for his mother - said he didn't tell anyone about the chip.
"Even though I wanted to, something kept holding me back," he said, adding that his mother would've thought he was "going crazy".
Taleb believed that if he got stopped at the airport it would prove his thoughts were being monitored.
"I thought if I played along with this undercover officer I would be able to expose what was happening to me - and I did," he said.
Taleb said the officer told him it was his "duty or obligation to travel from Australia to Islamic State".
But he denied having any intention to fight on behalf of the group.
"When you were talking to this undercover officer you told him you shot pistols - have you ever shot a pistol," his barrister, Michael Finnane QC, asked.
"No," Taleb replied.
"Did you have any guns or ammunition?"
"No."
"What you were doing is playing games in your room?"
"Yes."
Psychiatrist Olav Nielssen earlier testified for the defence that Taleb was suffering symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of schizophrenia for up to two years before his arrest.
He said Taleb was "under a lot of pressure" from the undercover operative to participate in the plans and believed it was "a set up".
"He felt he was in some kind of game. He felt he was being manipulated because of his belief his every thought was known by the person putting him up to this," he said.
The trial continues before Justice Peter Hamill.
Australian Associated Press
