- Benbrika hatched a plan to blow up the MCG on the day of the grand final
- The Supreme Court has allowed him to retain his citizenship
- READ MORE: Latest news on the war between Israel and Hamas
Convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika has had his Australian citizenship reinstated by the country’s highest court.
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the interior minister’s decision to strip Algerian-born Benbrika of his citizenship was contrary to the law.
Benbrika was arrested and convicted in 2005 over plots to attack Melbourne landmarks, including the AFL grand final at the MCG.
The self-styled Muslim cleric had also called on his followers to kill at least a thousand non-believers to force the Australian government to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
His 15-year prison sentence was set to expire in 2020, but the government managed to obtain a continued detention order. According to a court ruling, he posed an unacceptable risk to the community.
The order extended his detention until this month.
The High Court has restored the Australian citizenship of convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika
Benbrika was arrested and convicted in 2005 over plots to attack Melbourne landmarks, including the AFL grand final at the MCG.
As well as plotting to blow up Melbourne’s landmarks, he also plotted to attack the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney, and discussed the assassination of then Prime Minister John Howard.
Benbrika had previously appealed to the Supreme Court, where his lawyers argued that the law punished him for what he could hypothetically do, not for what he had done.
But the Supreme Court upheld the Supreme Court’s decision to keep him in jail.
Victorian Judge Andrew Tinney said Benbrika had been visited in prison by people who went on to fight for Islamic causes abroad.
“If the defendant had been visited by an apparently problematic person many years ago, that would be one thing,” he said, the ABC reported.
“But he was visited by fifteen problematic people for several years after his incarceration.”
Benbrika once said that his group of followers had to kill at least a thousand infidels to get the Australian government to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In police recordings from 2005, Benrika was heard telling followers: ‘If we want to die for jihad, we must do maximum damage. Maximum damage. Damage their buildings, everything. Damage their lives’.
In 2020, the Australian government revoked Benbrika’s citizenship. Then-Home Minister Peter Dutton said Benbrika would be returned to Algeria once he is released.
“I have revoked the Australian citizenship of convicted terrorist Benbrika, making him the first person to lose citizenship on land,” he said in November.
“It doesn’t matter who it is, if it is an individual who poses a significant terror risk to our country, then we will do everything within Australian law to protect Australians.”
