Terror supporter Hamdi Alqudsi sentenced to minimum six years in prison

Hamdi Alqudsi, the first person to be prosecuted for helping Australians fight in the brutal Syrian conflict, will be eligible for release in 2022, after serving a non-parole period of six years.

In her sentencing remarks in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday, Justice Christine Adamson said Alqudsi "took upon himself the role of commander" and noted there was evidence he had helped several more men than those included on his indictment.

The 42-year-old disability pensioner from Sydney's south-west was earlier this year found guilty by a jury of seven counts of providing services with the intention of supporting hostile acts in Syria between June and October 2013.

A handful of Alqudsi's supporters and family members were in court and shouted out "see you soon" and "love you brother" as he was taken into custody after the sentencing.

His wife, Carnita Matthews, who attracted media attention when she successfully appealed a conviction for falsely accusing a police officer of ripping off her veil, wrote in a reference that her family was "falling day by day" without him.

Justice Adamson accepted the analogy that Alqudsi was the centre of the wheel and said his "most important role" was linking the men with Mohammad Ali Baryalei, a prolific jihadist recruiter who would become known as one of Australia's most senior members of the Islamic State.

At least two of the men he helped - Caner Temel and Tyler Casey - are believed to have died fighting for rival terrorist organisations less than a year after they arrived.

While Alqudsi maintained his innocence after the jury delivered its verdict, at a dramatic sentencing hearing last week he admitted that he knew the men planned to take up arms against the Syrian Government in order to "help and defend" civilians.

Giving evidence for the first time, Alqudsi broke down in tears and sobbed "we are not terrorists man, we love Australia, we are Australians".

Justice Adamson accepted that the men were willing volunteers but said there was an "element of grandiosity" in Alqudsi's description of his actions and he had persisted in portraying himself as a selfless community worker.

"I do not regard his prospects of rehabilitation as good...I'm not persuaded the offender has any real insight into the gravity of his offending or its effect on others," she said.

Justice Adamson said there was no indication Alqudsi was willing to sacrifice his own "life or his liberty for the cause" and he did not appear to have had any "real appreciation" of the political and military situation in Syria.

Alqudsi's trial heard that he helped connect the men to terrorist organisation Jabhat al Nusra and other al-Qa'da affiliates, and was overjoyed when he heard some would move to the group that would come to be known as Islamic State.

Intercepted phone calls showed Alqudsi talking to Baryalei about forming an "Australian battalion", the joys of martyrdom, torture and plans for the "brothers".

"I've got four. Not one. There's four brothers coming now and I've got more coming after that," Alqudsi said in one phone call. "I need you ... to help me out so I can open the door."

In another call with one of his recruits who had just crossed the border from Turkey to Syria, Alqudsi said: "Brother, my jihad is here as well, as much as yours over there."

At his sentencing hearing, Alqudsi claimed that he had no idea what happened to the men he helped and said he had never made any inquiries.

While two of the men who made it into Syria died, the fates of two others - Nassim Elbahsa and Mahmoud Abed Aboshi - are not known.

Muhammad Abdul-Karim Musleh and Mehmet Biber returned to Australia, while Amin Mohamed was stopped before he could leave Australia and was later found guilty of three counts of preparing to enter a foreign state to engage in hostile activities.

Scott Bruckard, deputy director of the office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution's organised and counter terrorism practice group, said the Alqudsi case had set an "important precedent".

"Whilst this prosecution was complex and whilst Mr Alqudsi instituted a number of legal challenges to the offences in question, the validity of these law was upheld by the courts and an important precedent was set for future foreign incursion and recruitment cases," Mr Bruckard said in a statement.

The men who wanted to go to Syria

Hamdi Alqudsi helped these men plan to go to Syria

The "brothers"

Tyler Casey
Also known as: Abu Qaqa​, Yusuf Ali
Casey and his wife, Amira Karroum​, who lived in Granville, are believed to have died when they were shot by a rival Syrian rebel group in Aleppo in January 2014. Born into a large Christian family in the United States, Casey converted to Islam as a teenager. Casey left for Syria in mid-2013, while Karroum joined him in January the following year.

Caner Temel​
Also known as: Abu Moussa
Temel, 22, from Auburn, was reportedly killed when he was shot in the head by a rebel sniper while fighting for the Islamic State in January 2014. He left Australia in mid-2013, meeting up with Baryalei who was already fighting in Syria. Temel had joined the Australia Army in 2009, but was discharged in 2010 after going AWOL.

Mehmet Biber
Also known as: Abu Abdul Malik​
A western Sydney resident, Biber allegedly left Australia in July 2013, before making his way to Turkey's Bab Al-Hawa border and crossing into Syria. Earlier this year Fairfax Media revealed that Biber had returned to Australia, although he has claimed he did nothing wrong in the Middle East and returned home just weeks after he allegedly left.

Muhammad Abdul-Karim Musleh​
Also known as: Abu Hassan
Musleh allegedly left Australia in mid 2013, crossing the Turkish border into Syria alongside Casey, Temel and Biber. He arrived back in Australia about 10 days later, with Alqudsi describing his return as a "catastrophe" in an intercepted phone call played to the court.

Abu Alim​
Revealed to be Mahmoud Abed Aboshi in the sentencing hearing, Abu Alim told Alqudsi that he had crossed the border into Syria in July 2013. "When we were crossing the border, I mean, there were gunshots and praise be to Allah, on top of us and it was beautiful," he said in an intercepted phone call played to the court. The fate of Abu Alim is not known.

Amin Mohamed
Also known as: Abu Bilal​
A New Zealand citizen who had been living in Melbourne, Mohamed was charged after he was stopped at Brisbane international airport in September 2013. He pleaded not guilty to three counts of preparing to enter a foreign state to engage in hostile activities, saying that he wanted to move to Syria to help people. He was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury in October 2015, and is being held in an immigration detention centre until his expected sentencing hearing later this year.

Nassim Elbahsa
Also known as: Abu Bakr
The whereabouts of Elbahsa are not known. The court heard that Alqudsi received a picture of Elbahsa and Biber together in October 2013. Biber, who sent the image, referred to Elbahsa as the "brother u sent to us jst now" and said he was considering bringing his family over to join him. "Ye he gna try n get all of them to come God willing ... They dnt have any issues with muhajireen bringing family here," Biber wrote.