Abdul Nacer Benbrika lawyers say there are problems with case against jailed terrorist

Jailed terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika could be moved placed in immigration detention by the end of the year.

Convicted terror plotter Abdul Nacer Benbrika.

Lawyers for terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika will argue there are “deep problems” with the government’s case against him, amid news he will be sent from prison in Victoria to NSW when his continued detention order lapses at the end of the year.

On the first day of his trial to challenge the continuation of that order, which has kept him in jail for three extra years on top of the 15 he has already served, Benbrika’s counsel Dan Star KC flagged with judge Elizabeth Hollingworth that on Monday he intends to raise concerns with the ­case against his client.

“We think there are deep problems with the Attorney-General's revised case,” he told Victoria’s Supreme Court.

It came after Peter Hanks KC, for the Attorney-General, said when Benbrika’s continued ­detention order expired on ­December 23, it was expected that he would be held in immigration detention at Long Bay prison in Sydney after being held in Barwon prison in Victoria.

“A person can be held in ­immigration detention in a state prison,” he said.

Benbrika, an Algerian-born spiritual leader of an al-Qa’ida-linked terror cell, was jailed in February 2009 after plotting ­attacks on Australian landmarks in the early 2000s.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil cancelled Benbrika’s ex-citizen visa on May 12 of this year, but this decision is separately being challenged in the High Court on June 14 and 15.

The Attorney-General is also seeking to place an extended supervision order on Benbrika, which is being heard in Victoria Supreme Court at the same time as Benbrika’s challenge to his continued detention order.

It was revealed on Friday the government will seek an ­extended supervision order – that will place significant restrictions on Benbrika if he is released into the community – of three years, with conditions.