People smuggling was altruism: lawyer

One of Australia's most sought-after people smugglers was primarily driven by altruism when he played a key role in transporting 555 asylum seekers to Christmas Island, his defence lawyer says.

Sayed Omeid, who fought his extradition from Malaysia for several years, has admitted to two counts of organising groups of non-citizens to be brought to Australia in March and August 2001.

The first vessel had 196 passengers on board, while the second had 359 passengers.

Defence lawyer Jonathan Davies said Omeid was "the perfect middle man" to Achmad Olong, the principal organiser in the people smuggling syndicate, which included Hadi Ahmadi, the first person extradited to Australia from Indonesia on people smuggling charges in 2009.

Ahmadi was sentenced in 2010 in the West Australian District Court to a maximum of seven-and-a-half years behind bars while Olong, a key witness in Ahmadi's trial, was imprisoned for five years.

During sentencing submissions on Tuesday, Mr Davies said Omeid's involvement began with him getting about 20 family members out of Iraq to escape the barbarous regime.

The Kurdish refugee later felt "under somewhat of a duty" to help others flee, Mr Davies said, and all of the people he had helped had been living in fear.

"It might be admissible ... that there was a humanitarian element to what was done," Mr Davies said.

The asylum seekers had not been transported on leaking wrecks and all had survived, he said.

And while at least one of the passengers had spoken of seeing Omeid in a "nice car" and a "luxurious" vessel, he made very little personal profit, Mr Davies said.

While some of the passengers each paid between $US400 and $US2000, a large number travelled for free, he said.

Judge Mark Herron accepted the asylum seekers were fleeing oppression, but a key question in sentencing Omeid was whether he had taken advantage of people in that situation.

Prosecutor Alan Troy called for Omeid's sentences to be served cumulatively, citing passenger Mortada Batool, an Iraqi asylum seeker who he said had a particularly distressing ordeal.

The boat on which she and her family travelled was crammed to twice its capacity, and men were carrying knives and swords in case of disputes, Mr Troy said.

Judge Herron will hand down his sentence on Wednesday.