Majid Alibadi sentenced to jail time for involvement in Melbourne tobacco warsBy crime reporter Olivia Jenkins

Posted Wed 2 Sep 2026 at 2:21pmWed 2 Sep 2026 at 2:21pmWed 2 Sep 2026 at 2:21pm

In short:

Majid Alibadi has been sentenced to a maximum of five and a half years in prison for crimes committed at the height of Victoria’s tobacco wars.

He was charged in 2023 with incitement to commit arson and car theft on behalf of tobacco kingpin Kazen Hamad’s crime syndicate. 

He will be eligible for parole in three years.

A key lieutenant of jailed tobacco kingpin Kazem Hamad will spend at least three years behind bars for orchestrating arsons and car thefts at the height of Victoria’s tobacco wars.

Detectives from Victoria Police’s illicit tobacco task force had charged Majid Alibadi with incitement to commit arson and car theft on behalf of the Hamad crime syndicate in late 2023.

Alibadi was convicted of orchestrating fires at the Karizma restaurant in Docklands in November that year, owned by embattled underworld figure Fadi Haddara, who was last week shot outside his Altona North home.

He was also linked to a reception centre fire in Tullamarine, with prosecutors estimating the blazes caused almost $2m in total damage.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, Majid Alibadi fronted the County Court via video link on Wednesday after refusing to board a bus to appear in person as Judge Duncan Allen described Alibadi’s offending as “brazen” and “carefully planned”.

“There can be no doubt this offending is extremely serious,” Judge Allen said.

Prosecutors had previously described Alibadi as an “upper-level middleman” of the gang who often referred to Maytham Hamad, Kazem Hamad’s younger brother and second-in-command, as “fam” or “cuz”.

In documents released by the County Court, prosecutors said Alibadi arranged stolen cars, fake number plates, jerry cans full of petrol and clothing for offenders tasked with torching venues across Melbourne.

Prosecutors told the court investigators bugged Alibadi’s cars with trackers and listening devices, which placed him in the area around the time of the fires.

They also captured Alibadi and Maytham Hamad, who is on remand in Western Australia for allegedly dealing with more than $1m worth of proceeds of crime, laughing while watching videos about recent arson attacks at venues connected to the Haddara family.

On another occasion, Alibadi was heard telling an associate that “Maytham doesn’t want it [Karizma] to be open on Christmas”.

In sentencing Alibadi to a maximum term of five and a half years, Judge Allen said he took Alibadi’s guilty plea into account, as well as his strong will to detox from meth, which he had been addicted to since he was 13.

The court also heard Alibadi had been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression as a result of witnessing violence when his family moved back to Iraq at the height of Isis activity in the region.

Chris Murray, head of the force’s arson squad, was also present for the sentencing, along with several other detectives.

Close relationship with Hamad family, court hears

During a pre-sentencing hearing last week, Alibadi, who was out on bail, wore a $1,500 black Dolce & Gabbana knitted jumper as his defence barrister Dermot Dann KC told the court his client had “accepted responsibility and acknowledged the harm caused to the victims”.

Mr Dann said Alibadi “had given this a lot of thought and realised how bad his conduct was and that he wanted to change”, and acknowledged that his drug use was not an excuse for his behaviour.

But the prosecution said: “He’s not a low-level minion … he is an organiser.”

Several supporters of Alibadi also attended that hearing, where they could be seen hugging him and offering words of support before he was taken into custody.

At the time of his arrest in 2024, Mr Alibadi, unemployed and living with his parents, was driving a $95,000 Mercedes-Benz, with police telling a Melbourne court he was spending thousands at designer boutiques and high-end restaurants.

A court previously heard Alibadi was the administrator of an encrypted group chat called the “Crime Family Group Chat” with the Hamad brothers.

Police alleged the pair used the chat to give Alibadi direct orders.

Mr Dann said Alibadi’s association with the Hamad family dated back to his childhood in Iraq, where the families grew up in the same war-torn village before arriving in Australia.

The court heard the Alibadi and Hamad families also shared a home after arriving in Melbourne from Iraq.

Mr Dann last week said Kazem Hamad’s life sentence for drug trafficking in Iraq and Maytham Hamad’s remand in Western Australia meant Alibadi could no longer associate with the Hamad syndicate, giving his client the chance to “start off on a new road”.

Had Alibadi not pleaded guilty, Judge Allen said he could have spent up to seven years behind bars.