Cops’ legal battle to keep terrorists locked up
Police to use new powers as they brace for the release of a record number of convicted terrorists.
Counter-terrorism police are preparing to use controversial new powers, including continued detention orders, to prevent the release of a record number of convicted terrorists including Australia’s most dangerous extremist, Abdul Nacer Benbrika.
As authorities grapple with how to handle the 70-odd Australians marooned in refugee camps in Syria, police and ASIO are bracing for the release of a record number of convicted terrorists into the community.
The Australian can reveal that 11 terrorists are due for release this year, the result of the ballooning number of Muslim extremists locked up in the past few years.
NSW Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton said that while each of the five terrorists due to be released from NSW prisons would be assessed on a case-by-case basis, police were expected to resort to controversial new detention powers to detain some. “It’s likely that a number of these people will be suitable for continuing detention orders,’’ he said.
The orders, which have never been used in Australia, allow authorities to imprison extremists for up to three years beyond the expiry of their prison sentence, provided they can convince the courts they remain a threat.
In Victoria, it is likely authorities will apply for an order to detain Algerian-born radical preacher Abdul Nacer Benbrika, the spiritual head of the 2005 Pendennis terror conspiracy.
Benbrika was the driving force behind two terror cells, one in Sydney the other in Melbourne, and is still considered a potent source of extremist influence to younger radicals.
He was famously recorded in police intercepts telling his supporters they must do “maximum damage”. Benbrika is due for release on November 4 having repeatedly been denied parole.
Victoria’s Police Commissioner Graham Ashton declined to discuss specific cases, but confirmed authorities were discussing ways to manage Benbrika.
“Of the people being released, he’s probably been the highest profile offender,’’ Mr Ashton said. “He’s someone we’re maintaining a close dialogue with the commonwealth about regarding his pending release.’’
Despite being held in Barwon’s maximum-security prison, Benbrika has remained a major source of concern to counter-terrorism authorities. Benbrika is reported to have communicated, via an intermediary, with one of the ring leaders of the 2016 Christmas Day terror plot, a conspiracy by four men to attack Melbourne’s Federation Square and celebrations at St Paul’s Cathedral.
In NSW police harbour serious concerns about former Sydney baggage handler Bilal Khazal, who was convicted of compiling a terror manual. Khazal underwent terrorist training in Afghanistan and was reportedly named in a CIA report as being Osama bin Laden’s key contact in Australia.
Like Benbrika, authorities believe Khazal has never forsaken his extremist ideology.
Managing extremists as they are released has become one of the main challenges for police around the world. “It’s almost the wicked problem for police in this country and around the world,’’ Mr Walton said. “We’re all in that same cycle.’’
On February 2, police shot dead Sudesh Amman, 20, after he stabbed two people in London. Amman had just been released from prison where he served half of a three-year, four-month prison sentence for terror offences. Amman was under heavy police surveillance for fear he would attack the community and it was surveillance officers who drew down and shot him.
This year Victoria will release six convicted terrorists, while NSW will release five.
Many, like Benbrika and Bilal Khazal, are al-Qa’ida-era terrorists locked up in the years after September 11. Mr Ashton said that Victoria Police would assess each of the six for control orders, which restrict phone and internet use and impose strict reporting conditions. “The plan is that we assess each for control order. If we can get enough for control orders we’re keen to pursue that,” he said.
■ GALLERY: The terrorists who could be freed this year
In recent years the government has passed a raft of laws to counter extremist prisoners and the AFP is expected to rely heavily on them to contain the threat. These include extended supervision orders, continuing detention orders and citizenship revocation.
While citizenship revocation has been used against suspected extremists in Syria it is problematic when applied in Australia.
It makes monitoring extremist with links to Australia harder and requires the active co-operation of other countries which must consent to having their terrorist citizens deported from Australia.
The use of CDOs will inflame civil libertarians who have long argued such measures are excessive and contrary to basic principles of justice. “Post-sentence preventative detention confronts, if not contravenes, a range of fundamental common law principles and human rights protections,” Law Council president Pauline Wright said, while acknowledging the intent of the powers was community protection.
However, former Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Bret Walker SC said that with appropriate safeguards, such as rigorous judicial oversight, such measures could be justified. “I think that with an appropriately serious cases, that is with prior offending and lack of contrition, I can see justification not only for control order but in the most serious cases continuing detention order,’’ he said.
Many of those convicted or charged over the 2005 Pendennis terror plot, still the biggest terror conspiracy in Australia, have gone on to reoffend or join Islamic State. Khaled Sharrouf, perhaps the most notorious of Australia’s terrorists, served nearly four years for his role in the conspiracy.
After his release Sharrouf travelled to Syria where he joined Islamic State, becoming one of the most high-profile foreign jihadis. He was later killed in a drone strike.
Ezzit Raad was also convicted over the plot. He travelled to Syria in the early days of the conflict and later died fighting for ISIS.
His cousin, Majed Raad, was tried and acquitted over the conspiracy.
Like Ezzit, Majed Raad travelled to Syria and fought with Islamic State. Following the collapse of ISIS’s self-styled caliphate he was one of about 20 Australian fighters taken into custody by the Kurdish Syrian Defence Force, where he remains.
Lowy Institute Middle East scholar and terrorism expert Rodger Shanahan said there had been tension between the older generation of al-Qa’ida extremists and younger militants energised by ISIS.
He said it remained to be seen how influential al-Qa’ida-era figures like Benbrika and former Sydney baggage handler Bilal Khazal were on younger Muslims.
“Al-Qa’ida is still around it just doesn’t have the cache Islamic State does,’’ he said.
