Melbourne terror cell leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika appeal fails

A convicted Australian terrorist who professed admiration for Osama bin Laden has found out if he will have to stay behind bars for longer.

A terrorist who once professed admiration for Osama bin Laden failed to overturn a court decision keeping him behind bars for longer.

Abdul Nacer Benbrika has spent 15 years behind bars after he was found guilty and jailed for being the “guiding light” of Australia’s largest terrorist network and was due to be released last year.

But lawyers for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton successfully argued to keep him in jail until 2023 under a continuing detention order.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney found Benbrika remained an unacceptable risk to the community and there was a “whiff of implausibility” about claims he renounced violent jihad.

Abdul Nacer Benbrika failed to overturn a decision to keep him behind bars until 2023.

The judge ordered the convicted terrorist to stay behind bars, but the 61-year-old appealed the decision during a hearing last month.

However, Court of Appeal Justices David Beach, Stephen McLeish and Maree Kennedy threw out the legal challenge on Tuesday.

“It is the unanimous view of the court that this appeal should be dismissed,” Justice Beach said.

The convicted terrorist’s lawyer Dan Star QC argued during the appeal the judge should have specified the offences Benbrika was at risk of committing if released.

They shouldn’t be left “guessing”, Mr Star said.

Benbrika was first arrested in 2005 as one of more than a dozen people caught up with Operation Pendennis, one of the country’s largest counter-terrorism investigations.

The terror leader and father of seven was a known supporter of bin Laden and was described as the “guiding light” of the terror network.

He was stripped of his citizenship in 2020 and he now holds an ex-citizen visa, which allows him to remain in Australia but not re-enter if he were deported.