"You exposed the passengers to potentially unsafe conditions in unreliable and overcrowded boats," Judge Mark Herron said, announcing the ruling, as quoted by Australia’s public broadcaster ABC.
The defendant, 43-year-old Sayed Omeid from the Iraqi city of Erbil, pleaded guilty to two charges of people smuggling in March.
The two refugee boats organized by Omeid arrived at Australia’s Christmas Island in 2001, carrying 555 people.
"Your principal motivation was self-interest, whether it was for financial profit or assistance to family members or yourself," Herron stated.
Omeid was arrested in Malaysia in 2010 after Australia issued an extradition request, but fought his extradition for years. He was eventually brought to Australia in 2013.
Given time already spent in custody, Omeid could be released on parole in 2017.
Ahmadi was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in 2010 for organizing two refugee boats carrying over 550 asylum seekers to Australia.
Canberra’s asylum seeker policy has been harshly criticized by local and international rights groups, as well as the UN’s human rights commissioner, who claimed in a speech last year that Australia's interception and turning back of migrant vessels leads to numerous human rights violations.
