Criminal Court of Appeal hears that jurors in trial of five men convicted of planning a terrorist act on Sydney were followed to their cars THE JURY who convicted five men of planning a terrorist act on Sydney should have been discharged after four of them said they were followed to their cars just days into the lengthy trial, an appeal court has heard today. Abdul Rakib Hasan, Khaled Cheikho, his nephew Moustafa Cheikho, Mohamed Elomar and Omar Jamal are all appealing a jury's 2009 verdict and their subsequent sentences of between 23 and 28 years for planning to commit a terrorist act. Abdul Rakib Hasan. The trial, which spanned 11 months and more than 300 witnesses, heard the group stockpiled chemicals, a sniper handbook and ammunition between July 2004 and November 2005, but no specific target for the attack was ever identified. At the start of a week-long hearing in the Court of Criminal Appeal Hasan's barrister Tim Game SC said the jury was "biased" after four of them reported being followed to their cars, and one female juror thought her number plates were being taken down. Khaled Cheikho. That juror said while she "wasn't normally paranoid ... it led me to park my car in a different spot" after a lady in a headscarf, who she had noticed in the public gallery at the trial, pulled out a notebook and appeared to write something down. Today's hearing was told that the incident of "multiple" jurors believing they were followed to their cars came on "day 14...when the trial went for almost another year." Mr Game told the court that regardless if those incidents happened "on day one or eight months into" the trial, the jury "were biased" from that point on and should have been discharged. Moustafa Cheikho. The court heard the jury were informed police were looking into their concerns. "The jury were never told about the result of the investigation," Mr Game said, adding that the woman never came into the courtroom again but was kept out by security staff after trying to enter on another occasion. The appeal heard the jury was brought to court each day by a bus after the safety concerns were raised in court. Mohamed Elomar. "Everything points in the direction that this jury should have been discharged," Mr Game said. How could one go on with this trial after this incident, we'd ask rhetorically. Justice Caroline Simpson, one of three judges hearing the case, asked Mr Game that if the juror who believed her number plates were recorded was so frightened, "why would you not seize the opportunity to say I'm out of here?" But Mr Game said the fact the jury were delivered to court by bus would "every day have reminded (them) why this is happening ... for (their) security." Omar Jamal. The appeal has also heard the men and women tasked with assessing the men's guilt were prejudiced by publicity about a separate terrorism trial. Mr Game said the jury were played a broadcast of a 7.30 Report interview with a Muslim cleric who was part of a separate trial.