(NCA NewsWire) A terrorist who once professed admiration for Osama bin Laden failed to overturn a court decision keeping him behind bars for longer.
Abdul Nacer Benbrika has spent 15 years behind bars after he was found guilty and jailed for being the “guiding light” of Australia’s largest terrorist network and was due to be released last year.
But lawyers for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton successfully argued to keep him in jail until 2023 under a continuing detention order.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney found Benbrika remained an unacceptable risk to the community and there was a “whiff of implausibility” about claims he renounced violent jihad.
The judge ordered the convicted terrorist to stay behind bars, but the 61-year-old appealed the decision during a hearing last month.
