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‘Unacceptable risk’: Terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika will stay jailed despite finishing sentence

A terror leader who was behind a plot to bomb the MCG on Grand Final day will not be let out of jail despite finishing his sentence.

Abdul Nacer Benbrika has spent the past 15 years in prison for plotting terror attacks in Melbourne and Sydney. Picture: ABC
Abdul Nacer Benbrika has spent the past 15 years in prison for plotting terror attacks in Melbourne and Sydney. Picture: ABC

A convicted terrorist will stay behind bars despite his sentence finishing after a judge agreed he was an “unacceptable risk” to the community.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney ruled on Thursday that Abdul Nacer Benbrika will spend a further three years in prison, granting an application by the Department of Home Affairs.

The 60-year-old was arrested in 2005 and later convicted of being the leader of a Melbourne terrorist cell plotting attacks on major targets in Australia’s biggest cities.

He was due to be released in November after spending 15 years behind bars, but the Department of Home Affairs applied to the court to keep him locked up for another three.

It argued he was an “unacceptable risk” to the community and could continue to participate in terror-related activities if freed.

The MCG, Crown Casino and a nuclear reactor near Sydney were among the targets considered by Benbrika’s group, a court previously heard.

A group member discussed with Benbrika the idea of assassinating former Prime Minister John Howard as retaliation for the presence of Australian troops in Iraq, his 2008 trial heard.

He was not sentenced on the basis of plotting an attack on any specific target.

He had been visited in jail by ISIS fighter Jamil Shqeir, Department of Home Affairs lawyers told the court.

Home Affairs has been fighting to keep convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika locked up as his 15-year sentence comes to an end.
Home Affairs has been fighting to keep convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika locked up as his 15-year sentence comes to an end.

The FBI shared with Australian authorities that Shqeir spoke with Benbrika before departing to fight for the Islamic State in Syria.

Another visitor was Khaled Sharrouf, who was killed in Syria after going to fight for the Islamic State, the court heard.

“It does seem there a lot of people who visited Mr Benrika in prison and then departed and never returned,” Justice Tinney said in an earlier hearing.

Forensic psychologist Michael Davis labelled Benbrika as “ego-centred” and a “narcissist” in his evidence to the court.

Dr Davis said Benbrika had a new belief system, but one that required “mental gymnastics” to understand.

It included that if a country grants a visa to a Muslim person they must not commit acts of violence against the people of that country, Dr Davis said.

The Algerian-born man would likely be deported to Africa if released, or otherwise could be placed in indefinite detention in Australia as a non-citizen if his home country declined to allow him to return.

But even if he does leave Australia, lawyers for the Department of Home Affairs argued he would be able to incite terror from overseas using modern technology.

“There are known cases where terrorist offending has been instigated overseas and carried out in Australia by the use of the internet, telephone calls,” Justice Tinney said in an earlier hearing.

In an affidavit to the court, Australian Federal Police Counter Terrorism Assistant Commissioner Scott Lee said the AFP believed Benbrika could serve as a mentor to potential Islamic extremists.

Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton applied to keep convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika behind bars for another three years. Picture: Josh Woning
Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton applied to keep convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika behind bars for another three years. Picture: Josh Woning

“I am concerned that Mr Benbrika will seek to establish … himself as a person who can give religious or ideological guidance to others and use this as a means of recruiting people to participate in terrorist acts,” he wrote.

Benbrika’s lawyer Brian Walter QC argued his client would be under a “comprehensive” interim control order if released which would be a less restrictive way to ensure he was monitored.

He said there was no proof his visitors in jail had discussed anything related to terrorism.

Benbrika has said his views changed in prison and he no longer adheres to a violent extremist interpretation of Islam.

Home Affairs lawyer Rowena Orr said in an earlier hearing there was “no credible evidence” to support that.

Originally published as ‘Unacceptable risk’: Terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika will stay jailed despite finishing sentence

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts/unacceptable-risk-terrorist-abdul-nacer-benbrika-will-stay-jailed-despite-finishing-sentence/news-story/de4e75982225f7a54e65a6ef00886510