More than two decades ago a 25-year-old Iraqi man was part of a smuggling pipeline that exploited desperate people prepared to do anything to get to Australia, including risking their lives.
The operation saw hundreds of the asylum seekers board a boat in October 2001.
But only 65 survived when the vessel capsized in entered international waters on the way to Australia.
The now 46-year-old man, Maythem Kamil Radhi, is not responsible for what the Australian Federal Police said were more than 350 deaths. But a jury found him guilty on Wednesday after less than five hours of deliberation over his role in the people-smuggling operation.
In sentencing Radhi, Justice Lincoln Crowley said Radhi was aware of the dangers and extent of the risk at the time the passengers were boarding the boat, which came to be known as Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X (SIEV-X), in Indonesia.
"You for financial reward were involved with a people smuggling group that sought to exploit desperate people who were prepared to do anything to come to Australia including risking their lives and taking their chances on the SIEV-X," he said.
Radhi pleaded not guilty at the start of the seven-day trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court to facilitating the proposed entry of at least five non-citizens into Australia between July 1 and October 19, 2001.
The trial heard from six passengers who, with 17 others, escaped before the SIEV-X sank in the Indian Ocean on October 19, 2001, while another 45 were rescued.
Radhi was not accused of being the kingpin behind the people-smuggling operation, but instead being part of a group led by Egyptian-born Abu Quassey.
In 2003 Quassey, also known as Moataz Attiya Mohamed Hassan, was found guilty in a Cairo court of manslaughter for organising the ill-fated voyage.
He was sentenced to five years behind bars for homicide through negligence and another two for aiding illegal migration.
Iraqi-born Khaleed Shnayf Daoed was sentenced to nine years in jail after being convicted in the Brisbane Supreme Court in 2005 for his part in the fatal expedition.
Quassey was effectively Radhi's employer, while Daoed was more actively involved, Justice Crowley said in sentencing the refugee.
"Nevertheless I do accept that your involvement in this matter was for financial reward and the only inference to be drawn is that you were paid money in order to perform your role."
The passengers who testified during the trial spoke of paying up to $1000 each to board the boat.
Radhi helped facilitate the operation by doing things like collecting money, arranging buses, visiting places where passengers stayed before the journey and helping organise asylum seekers at the vessel's departure point on the beach.
Justice Crowley said the acts performed by Radhi were carried out over months.
"You were involved in each of the stages in the people-smuggling pipeline in Indonesia," he added.
Justice Crowley accepted Radhi may not have been aware of every detail, the extent of the enterprise, or the state of the SIEV-X before passengers arrived to board.
"But I also accept the prosecution's submission that you nevertheless did not try to stop the boat departing or at any other stage attempt to desist from your role in the operation."
Radhi was extradited to Australia in 2019, about eight years after an arrest warrant was issued by Brisbane Magistrates Court.
The process was delayed while his eligibility for extradition was argued in courts in New Zealand, where he had been living with his wife and children since 2009 after being registered with the United Nations as a refugee.
Radhi has been in custody since arriving in Australia, having been refused bail twice.
Justice Crowley sentenced Radhi to seven years behind bars, ordering he be immediately eligible for parole after spending three years and one week in jail.
