'A coward': Arsalan Khawaja breaks down in court; apologises to love rival for framing him with a fake terror plot

The brother of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja has broken down in a Sydney court and apologised for framing a love rival with false terrorism claims.

Arsalan Khawaja was working at the University of New South Wales when he concocted a fake terror plot to get a love rival out of the way.

The court heard he was jealous of Mohamed Nizamdeen's friendship with a woman they worked with, so he forged diary entries, containing plans to kill soldiers, politicians and attack iconic landmarks.

Nizamdeen was wrongly charged with terrorism offences and sent to the nation's toughest jail, Goulburn Supermax.

Today Khawaja apologised to his former friend.

He told a sentence hearing he is "a coward, who lacked the courage to come forward".

Arsalan is the brother of cricketer Usman Khawaja, who was playing for Australia when news of the love triangle broke in 2018.

Usman gave evidence today and said saying Arsalan has always been loved and liked by everyone and was a model citizen up until recently.

Arsalan is also facing charges over a second love triangle.

Two years earlier he allegedly dobbed another love rival in for fake terrorism concerns to get him out of the picture.

He has since been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, which will be taken into account when he is sentenced later this month.