Radical cleric who masterminded Melbourne's Crown casino attack released
A convicted Australian terror leader and his followers who plotted attacks on Melbourne's Crown casino and other locations may soon be released from prison.
Abdul Nacer Benbrika, a Tunisian-born Australian citizen, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2008 for plotting an attack on the Crown Resorts during the Australian F1 Grand Prix weekend. Benbrica's group also planned attacks at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor.
Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, was arrested along with 17 others in Melbourne and Sydney in November 2005 and charged with being a member of a terrorist organization and plotting to carry out acts of terror against Australian targets. attack.
Citizenship Restoration
In November 2020, while the radical cleric was serving a prison sentence, Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton revoked his Australian citizenship. He was subsequently placed in "continuing pretrial detention" for a maximum period of three years.
Benbrica won an appeal to have his citizenship reinstated after Australia's Supreme Court ruled the law used by Dutton was unconstitutional. Now that Benbrica's arrest warrant is set to expire, he is scheduled to be released on December 23.
Senator Michaelia Cash, the opposition Liberal Party's legal spokesperson, told Melbourne's Herald Sun she was shocked the government had not applied for a new arrest warrant.
“It now seems certain that Benbrika will be released into the community with little or no supervision – and that is unacceptable,” said Senator Cash. "Given the issues we continue to experience with the government releasing detainees into the community, the Coalition is not confident... that the government can adequately protect Australians from the potential danger posed by Benbrika and others."
Who is Abdul Benbrika?
Benbrika trained as an aircraft engineer in his native Tunisia before becoming an Islamic cleric. According to court documents, he traveled to Australia in May 1989 on a one-month visitor's permit.
He spent the next six years fighting immigration authorities for the right to stay in the country. In 1992, he married an Australian citizen and they had seven children.
Benbrica once told an immigration court of his "love for the Australian way of life". But shortly after his arrest, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that there were "two laws: Australian law ... Islamic law" while praising Osama bin Laden as a "great man".
"The killing of women, children and the elderly is theologically permissible under certain circumstances," the prosecutor told his supporters.
Benbrika's teachings became increasingly politicized following the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, after which he formed a small group of radical followers in Melbourne. In 2005, several of his "students," including one who had received military training in Afghanistan, were arrested with him, according to prosecutors.
Just months before his arrest, the group was found to be in possession of chemicals similar to those used in the London bombings, although there was no evidence linking them to outside groups such as Al Qaeda.
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Source: www.casino.org
