From the Australian 6/9/13A SELF-styled Muslim cleric has been...

From the Australian 6/9/13

A SELF-styled Muslim cleric has been sentenced to 300 hours of community service for penning "grossly offensive" letters to families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Man Haron Monis, also known as Sheik Haron, was also placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.

So too was his co-accused and partner, 34-year-old Amirah Droudis, who pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting him.

In sentencing the pair at Sydney's District Court, Judge Mark Marien said Monis had sent a host of “grossly offensive” letters to the grieving families of seven soldiers killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.

He also wrote to the family of a trade official killed in a bombing in Indonesia.

In some of the correspondence, soldiers were likened to murderers, while in others Monis said they were going to hell.

In a DVD sent to the widow of one of the soldiers, Lance Corporal Jason Marks, Droudis says: “We shouldn't be honouring them as we don't honour Hitler's soldiers.”

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Some of the other messages, were simply too offensive to repeat, Judge Marien said.

“It is impossible that the offender Monis and Droudis would not have realised that the material being sent to the families was extremely distressing and hurtful,” he said.

The sentencing marks the end of protracted legal proceedings, which included an unsuccessful High Court challenge to the charges.

Speaking outside court Monis, who pleaded guilty to 12 counts of using a postal service to cause offence, said his letters were simply “flowers of advice”.

“Always, I stand behind my beliefs,” he told reporters.

“The High Court has confirmed that if I hand delivered these letters, there wouldn't be any problem.

“Using postal service (sic) made it illegal,” he added later