Abdul Nacer Benbrika: Strict supervision conditions on convicted terror group boss to be slashed

Convicted terror group leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika will have strict conditions limiting his freedom in the community slashed at 3pm on Thursday following a court ruling.

Benbrika, 64, was jailed for 15 years in 2009 after he was found guilty of directing the activities of a terrorist organisation and possessing an item connected with a terror act.

The then influential Muslim cleric in Melbourne led a group of young men espousing violent jihad against unbelievers in the mid-2000s directed at coercing Australia to withdraw forces from Iraq.

At the time of Benbrika’s arrest alongside 12 others in November 2005 there were no imminent plans for an attack, his trial was told.

One member, who gave evidence against the group, said Benbrika had suggested the AFL grand final, NAB Cup or Crown Casino as possible targets, but the sentencing judge did not accept him as a truthful witness.

The Algerian-born man’s sentence expired in 2020; however, he was kept in custody for three years on a continuing detention order after a judge ruled he posed an unacceptable threat to the community.

Benbrika was freed in December last year and placed on a one-year supervision order in the community with 30 strict conditions after Justice Elizabeth Hollingsworth found the evidence “clearly establishes” he’d made substantial progress towards deradicalisation.

These conditions are set to expire at 3pm on December 19, leading lawyers acting for the Attorney-General to apply to the court for a second one-year supervision order.

The case returned to the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday as Justice James Elliott determined he was satisfied a 28-day interim order was appropriate for the protection of the community.

“Each of the conditions proposed are reasonably necessary and adapted for the purpose of protecting the community,” he said.

Last week, Benbrika’s lawyers told the court they had been left in a disadvantaged position by the Attorney-General’s late filing for the order.

Dan Starr KC, for Benbrika, said he did not accept another year of supervision but would agree to a 28-day interim order “without prejudice”.

Zoe Maud SC told the court the Attorney-General was seeking Benbrika’s conditions be slashed from 30 strict restrictions to six aimed at ensuring he continued therapeutic treatment.

These include regularly reporting to Home Affairs, continuing in psychological and psychiatric treatment, and participation in a deradicalisation program.

Previous conditions requiring him to use AFP-provided devices and wear an electronic monitor will be lifted at 3pm on Thursday.

The court was told it was alleged Benbrika posed a risk of radicalising others or encouraging others to engage in acts of violence rather than a lone-wolf incident.

Ms Maud said over the past year Benbrika had received telephone contact from members of the community for “religious matters”.

Benbrika, the court was told, was assessed by a forensic psychiatrist in October who made comments about the convicted terrorist’s current state.

The psychiatrist, Ms Maud said, noted that Benbrika continued to have a distrust of authority, long-term mental health issues including PSTD and a major depressive disorder.

But he was assessed as lower risk of violence than the general prison population.

Ms Maud said it was an expert’s opinion that Benbrika’s potential of violence was well contained, but there remained some uncertainty that he could be “merely waiting out supervision”.

Benbrika, the court was told, claimed to have self-moderated his view of Islam and rejected the violent ideology of ISIS but as recently as September “continues to defend” the terrorist group.

According to a deradicalisation expert, Ms Maud said, Benbrika was making progress in deradicalising his long-held views of Islam and jihadist thinking but the process was incomplete.

The court was told he will still be subject to a firearms prevention order, which gives Victoria Police additional powers, and “ordinary surveillance and intelligence” by law enforcement.

In her ruling handed down in June, Justice Hollingsworth was highly critical of the Department of Home Affairs under the former Coalition government for failing to disclose key reports to Benbrika’s lawyers over the previous three years.

The Corner report, commissioned by Home Affairs, was critical of the VERA-2R tool used to assess Benbrika and other terrorists’ risk of reoffending, finding it had poor predictive validity.

“It is not reasonable to anticipate that the instruments are able to predict their specified risk with anything other than chance,” the report found.

Last year, counsel for the Attorney-General, Peter Hanks KC, said the failure was the result of human error and that “there was no conspiracy”.

Convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika says the public can sleep easy, 'they have nothing to worry about from him' following his release from prison after he spent 18 years behind bars over a plot to blow up the MCG.

Justice Hollingsworth referred the disclosure failure by Home Affairs and the AFP, then led by opposition leader Peter Dutton, to an independent monitor for investigation.

“The nondisclosure of the various expert reports amounts to a serious interference with the administration of justice,” she said.

“What happened in this case should never have happened and should not be repeated.”

In June, independent National Security Legislation Monitor Jake Blight said a reviewer would be appointed to undertake a preliminary inquiry into the nondisclosure.

Benbrika will return to court in January when the Attorney-General will seek another 28-day extension before a full hearing on the extended supervision order the following month.