Queensland man found not guilty of refusing to unlock phone to police for violating religious beliefs

A Queensland man has been found not guilty for refusing to unlock his phone to police after a judge found it violated his Islamic religious beliefs.

Humza Ali Ahmed, from Kuraby in far south Brisbane, was brought to trial in Beenleigh Magistrates Court earlier this month for violating an order over device information from a digital device in a case.

Police executed a search warrant at Ahmed’s home at 9:20 a.m. on July 11, 2022.

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The search warrant contained an order to provide access information to any digital device in the defendant’s possession or to which he had access.

Ahmed told police the reason he wouldn’t give them his passcode was because the phone contained “personal items”.

During the trial, Ahmed testified that the phone contained photos of his wife, who was not wearing a hijab, and messages between them, and that disclosing either to men who were not family members went against his genuine religious beliefs.

Ahmed admitted that he did not fully explain his refusal to the police officers because he wanted to speak to his lawyer first, but said he accepted that a female officer had examined the contents of his phone.

In a decision released Thursday, Judge Patrina Clohessy accepted that Ahmed was “a devout follower of the Islamic faith” and that officers conducting the search had wrongly told Ahmed he could legally refuse to provide the passcode without giving a reason.

“I am satisfied that objectively the circumstances provided a reasonable apology, particularly given that the investigating police had a duty to give due consideration to and act in accordance with human rights,” Clohessy said.

The charges were dropped and Ahmed was released from the trial.