Convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika has citizenship cancelled

The federal government has cancelled terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika’s citizenship in a seconda­ry move to protect the Australian community if it fails to keep him in jail.

Abdul Nacer Benbrika was convicted in 2003 for his role in Australia’s largest terror network.

The federal government has cancelled terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika’s citizenship in a seconda­ry move to protect the Australian community if it fails to keep him in jail after his sentence­ expired this month.

Benbrika served 15 years behind­ bars for his role as the spiritual leader of Australia’s largest terrorist network.

His sentence expired on Novembe­r 5 and he is kept in jail due to an interim detention order from the Victorian Supreme­ Court while the government seeks a continuing detentio­n order of three years.

The government amended the citizenship cessation bill on September 3 to apply to Australian citizens convicted of terrorism acts from May 2003. The act previously applied to acts committed after December 2015.

The amendment came into effect on September 18, nine days after the legal proceedings were issued in the Supreme Court to issue a continuing detention order against Benbrika.

Benbrika’s barrister Brian Walters QC told the court he was concerned about the use of the legislation in the case against Benbrika.

“(My client) has now completed his sentence, he shouldn’t be subjected to this,” Mr Walters said. “We are concerned that this power is now being deployed against our client in a way that appears to affect the argument in the case.”

Mr Walters said he was notified about the decision to cancel Benbrika’s citizenship on Sunday­ afternoon.

Benbrika now holds an ex-citizen visa, which could be cancelled on character grounds.

“That visa is liable to be cancelled by the minister at any time,” Mr Walters said. He said Benbrika would then be taken into immigration detention, liabl­e to be deported back to Algeri­a at any time.

Rowena Orr QC, acting for the government, said Ben­brika would not be taken to immigration­ detention while still in jail on the interim detention order. “The effect of (the decis­ion) is to place the defendant on a visa rather than have status as an Australian citizen,” she said.

She said the decision showed the “availability of a different path” to a less-restrictive measure of preventing an unidentifiable risk. “(We say it is) not an effective measure for addressing the risk posed by the defendant,” Ms Orr said.

She said there would be a lack of reach and oversight by Australian authorities if Benbrika were to be deported to his home country and there was a risk of him committing terrorism offences from overseas.

Benbrika has 90 days to appea­l against the decision to revok­e his citizenship.

The Supreme Court trial over a continuing detention order starts on Monday.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the decision to cancel Benbrika’s citizenship was the “best opportunity” to keep the nation safe. “We will do whatever is possible within Aust­ralian law to protect Australians — that remains our priority in relation to Benbrika,” he said.

Benbrika, an Algerian immig­rant, was convicted over terror plots that would have targeted the 2005 AFL grand final at the MCG, Crown casino during the Grand Prix weekend in 2006 and Sydney’s Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. He was arrested in 2005 and was refused parole in 2017 by former federal attorney-­general George Brandis.