Terror suspect Ahmad Saiyer Naizmand fights AFP mosque ban

A SYDNEY terror suspect is challenging a court-issued control order banning him from mosques on the ground that it impinges on his religious freedoms.

Terror suspect Ahmad Saiyer Naizmand, 20.

A SYDNEY terror suspect is challenging a court-issued control order banning him from mosques on the ground that it impinges on his religious freedoms.

Ahmad Saiyer Naizmand, 20, is one of four men in the country on a Control Order, ­granted by the Federal Circuit Court to “substantially assist in preventing a terrorist act”.

The Australian Federal Police told the court Naizmand is one of a close-knit group of men in Sydney “willing and able” to carry out an ­Islamic State order to randomly kill a “non-believer” and drape their body in the IS flag.

He was referred to by his Arabic name of Abu Moussa as one of those who had “the heart” to carry out such an ­attack during an intercepted phone call last September ­between Omarjan Azari in Sydney and Mohammad Baryalei, court documents state.

Now believed dead, Baryalei was Australia’s most senior Islamic State leader and recruited scores of Australians to the battlefields of Syria and Iraq.

Naizmand, who was caught last year trying to flee to Syria using his brother’s passport, has agreed to some of the conditions of the control order, ­including a curfew and not ­associating with 18 people connected with last year’s Operation Appleby anti-­terrorist raids in Sydney.

But this month Naizmand launched a constitutional challenge to the order requiring him to stay away from all mosques, except for one in Parramatta. He lives in Bella Vista.

His lawyers claim the condition places “significant ­restrictions on his freedom and ability to perform religious ­duties” and is contrary to his constitutional right to “freely exercise any religion”.

Judge Rolf Driver has ­adjourned the case until ­November 9 for a date to be set for a hearing. The judge said attorneys-general may want to intervene in the challenge.

“(Naizmand) opposes the (order) on the basis that, if confirmed, it would prohibit the free exercise of his religion (within the meaning of s. 116 of the Constitution) and therefore the court does not have power to impose such a control,” Judge Driver said.

The Control Order, which lasts for a year, was sought by AFP head of counter-terrorism Neil Gaughan, who claimed via court documents that Naizmand posed a high risk.