A parole bid by Australia’s first convicted terrorist has been blocked by the Federal Government

The man who plotted to blow up the national electricity grid and Army bases as part of an al-Qaeda linked terror attack will remain in jail with his parole bid quashed by the Federal Government.

The man who plotted to blow up the national electricity grid and Army bases as part of an al-Qaeda linked terror attack will remain in jail with his parole bid quashed by the Federal Government.

Faheem Khalid Lodhi became Australia’s first terrorist convicted of a home soil mass casualty attack when in June 2006 he was sentenced to 20 years jail for his plot on Sydney.

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Video footage of architect terrorist suspect Faheem Khalid Lodhi 07 Feb 2004. Picture: Channel 10

The Pakistan-born architect was eligible for parole this weekend but News Corp Australia has learned Attorney-General Christian Porter has blocked his bid for freedom.

Under federal law the AG reviews the cases of those up for release from serious charges, considering a range of factors including “community safety”.

Images taken from a videotape that was allegedly seized from the home of terror suspect Faheem Khalid Lodhi in Operation Newport, titled the 'Lion of Allah 1'. The video was played at Lodi's trial in Sydney.

Lodhi, who was an extremist Sunni when arrested and angry at Australia’s role in the first Iraq war, has since become a moderate in jail but still considered a risk.

His automatic parole is to now be reviewed every 12 months until his release or sentence ends in 2026.

At his 2003 trial, it was heard Lodhi had ties to the al-Qaeda linked Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and was involved with French terrorist Willie Brigitte who was dispatched to Australia to carry out various attacks including on Holsworthy military base and Victoria Barracks in Sydney and the national electricity grid.

Surveillance video camera footage of NSW architect terrorist suspect Faheem Khalid Lodhi, on 7 Feb 2004. Picture: ABC

Lodhi, who had migrated to Australia in 1998 and became an Australian citizen and accepted for study at Sydney University, had ordered chemicals to make a bomb with his plans coming unstuck when he made a dead letter drop, leaving an envelope with aerial maps in a bin at a park in Georges Hall.

Faheem Khalid Lodhi leaving the Supreme Court after sentencing.

ASIO intercepted the bin drop before it was to be potentially collected.

A later search of his house found a notebook with Lodhi’s handwriting detailing how to carry out a mass terror attack, details of LeT contacts in Pakistan, fake accounts for mobile phones he bought for Brigitte to make contact with his terror handler.

Originally published as A parole bid by Australia’s first convicted terrorist has been blocked by the Federal Government