Police in race to block release of jailed terrorists
The AFP will apply to have up to seven convicted terrorists due for release kept in jail.
The Australian Federal Police will apply to have up to seven convicted terrorists due for release kept in jail in what would be the first use of so-called “continuing detention orders’’.
AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said police were preparing to use the controversial laws, which were passed by the Turnbull government in an attempt to keep terrorists considered too dangerous to be released behind bars indefinitely.
The laws allow police to have terrorists locked up for up to three years beyond the term of their prison sentence, provided it can be established to the satisfaction of a court that they remain a threat.
Speaking at a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Monday, Mr Kershaw said 54 convicted terrorists would be subject to either detention or supervision orders, if and when they were released. “We have (seven convicted terrorists) pending consideration for continued detention in 2020,’’ he said. “And then between 2021-2060, 47.’’
His remarks came as ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said his agency was struggling to understand the causes behind a recent rise in right-wing extremism in Australia.
Mr Burgess said while Islamic extremism remained the agency’s main priority, there was growing alarm about right-wing violence, which had risen in prominence over the past three years.
“There is a few trends there but we do not fully understand why this is occurring,” he said on the source of the violence.
In February The Australian reported that a record 11 convicted terrorists were due to be released from jail this year.
They include Abdul Nacer Benbrika, the radical preacher at the centre of a 2004 plot to attack targets in Melbourne and Sydney.
Authorities are all but certain to apply for a detention order on Benbrika, who is due for release in November having repeatedly been denied parole.
Algerian-born Benbrika remains a source of inspiration for a younger generation of extremists, some of whom are believed to have sought his blessing to conduct attacks.
Another al-Qa’ida-era prisoner, former baggage handler Bilal Khazal, is also likely to be a candidate for continued detention. Khazal was convicted for preparing a terrorist manual and was named in a CIA report as one of Osama bin Laden’s key contacts in Australia.
He trained with the Taliban in Afghanistan and authorities believe he remains wedded to the extremist cause.
Mr Kershaw said that in the case of all 54 terrorists, the AFP’s priority was public safety.
“We are looking at all of those, in particular for different options within the legislation, whether it be continuing detention orders or control orders,’’ he said.
Mr Kershaw said of the 11 due for release this year, two were already in the community and on control orders, while a third was out but subject to a “less restrictive’’ mode of surveillance.
Mr Burgess said a stabbing attack in London by a recently released terrorist showed extremist ideology “ran deep’’.
“Just because someone’s served their time does not necessarily mean that they leave jail free from being radicalised,’’ he said.
He added that the threat posed by released terrorists would be examined on a “case-by-case’’ basis.
“But I do remain concerned, we do remain concerned, about individuals who are due later this year (for release),’’ he said.
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