Convicted terrorist Abdul Benbrika banned from Crown Resorts hotel
Abdel Nasser Benbrika, an Australian jihadist and convicted terrorist, has been banned for life from the casino venue where he had planned to attack.
Crown Resorts said this week it would use facial recognition technology to ensure Benbrika never enters Crown Melbourne or any of its casinos around the world.
The radical Muslim cleric was released from prison this week after serving 15 years in prison for joining a terror group and plotting attacks against Australian targets.
"Mother of Satan"
Tunisian-born Benbrika was the "spiritual leader" of a terrorist group that stockpiled bomb-making chemicals. Prosecutors said at the 2007 trial that the group wanted to stage a scene of "horror on the same scale as al-Qaeda's attacks in London and Madrid."
According to court documents, the jihadists called the bomb they built the "Mother of Satan."
According to witnesses, possible targets of the group include Melbourne's Crown Arena during the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MGC) and Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. The MGC also confirmed Benbrica's lifetime ban this week.
Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, was arrested in November 2005 with 17 others in Melbourne and Sydney. Shortly after his arrest, he praised Osama bin Laden as a "great man" in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
The cleric's original prison sentence expired in November 2020. However, he was sentenced to "further imprisonment" of up to three years, while Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton revoked his Australian citizenship.
But Benbrika won a legal battle to have his citizenship restored after Australia's Supreme Court ruled that stripping him of his citizenship was unconstitutional.
"Walking in the street"
Benbrica was released by the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday and placed under a one-year Extended Supervision Order (ESO) restricting his movements in the community for the next 12 months. He was also ordered to wear an ankle bracelet and must continue to participate in a de-radicalization program.
Opposition MPs want the cleric jailed for another three years.
"Stand up, look Australians in the eye and actually say they think it's OK for Benbrika to walk down the street and among us," Liberal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told the News on Wednesday said at the press conference. "It is a shame that (Australian Attorney-General) Mark Dreyfus did not come forward and seek a continuing detention order, which every sensible Australian knows is urgently needed in this case .”
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Source: www.casino.org
