Hyde Park rioter Ahmed Elomar released from jail
A FORMER champion boxer whose brother died fighting for ISIS has walked free from Goulburn jail after spending three years behind bars for his part in the infamous Hyde Park riots of 2012.
NSW
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HYDE PARK rioter Ahmed Elomar, the brother of Islamic State butcher Mohamed Elomar, walked free from jail yesterday after the state failed in a last-ditch bid to keep him behind bars amid fears he is radicalised and poses a threat to the community.
The former boxer, who reportedly practised sharia law inside jail and regards his dead terrorist brother as a “martyr”, was released on parole just hours after Supreme Court Judge Geoffrey Bellew dismissed the state’s application.
Elomar, now 33, was jailed for viciously assaulting a police officer during the September 2012 Muslim protests in Hyde Park, which turned violent as the protesters carried banners calling for all people who insult the prophet Mohammed to be beheaded.
He has served three years of his four-year and eight-month sentence.
NSW Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin tried to stop Elomar being released on bail until he had completed a deradicalisation program, which Elomar has not done.
Mr Severin said in his submission to the NSW Parole Authority that Elomar was part of a group of inmates who administered sharia law in the jail and idolised his brother, who fought with Islamic State in the Middle East with fellow Sydney terrorist Khaled Sharrouf.
But the Parole Authority decided this was actually a reason for Elomar to be set free — saying he was more at risk of being radicalised if he stayed in jail.
Corrective Services Minister David Elliott appealed to the Supreme Court, saying that Elomar should not be let back into the community until he had at least completed the government’s new deradicalisation program. But yesterday Justice Bellew rejected the appeal and set Elomar free.
He also ordered the state cover Elomar’s legal costs.
Clasping only a mysterious blue book, his discharge papers and a few old belongings in a plastic bag, Elomar walked out of Goulburn Jail about 3.30pm — to be greeted by a group of journalists but no friends or family.
He paced nervously outside the prison walls for 20 minutes before a white SUV skidded to a halt. Elomar jumped in and the car sped off.
Mr Elliott said yesterday he was “bitterly disappointed” by the judge’s decision.
“The Commissioner of Corrective Services had filed a submission opposing parole on the basis of evidence that Elomar had become radicalised during his time in custody and had expressed views amounting to Islamic extremism,” Mr Elliott said.
“I do not support the release of an offender to the community from the secure environment of the correctional system where, in my view, that offender remains untreated and continues to threaten the safety of the community.”
Ahmed Elomar has walked out of Goulburn Prison. There's no one to pick him up. He's just wandering around. #9News pic.twitter.com/z0BOeh37RL
— Joel Dry (@JoelDry9) August 4, 2016
Barrister Lester Fernandez SC, acting for Corrective Services NSW, submitted the Parole Authority had “ignored relevant material” about the protection and safety of the community.
But Elomar's counsel Greg James QC said in reply: “It plainly did not (ignore material) ... it took it into account.”
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