Islam convert jailed again after downloading a dating app and having ISIS propaganda materials
A prisoner who was arrested just days after he was released on bail despite being considered a ‘terrorist risk’ has been sentenced to further jail time.
Greg Ceissman, 24, faced Central Local Court in Sydney after breaching new anti-terrorism laws, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
He was sentenced to 11 months in jail with a non-parole period of eight months on Wednesday.
Central Local Court magistrate Robert Williams said there was an ‘overriding risk of Mr Ceissman committing terrorist offences or a terrorist offence, and that it [sic] the reason behind these orders being made.’
Ceissman is the first man in NSW to be jailed under the Terrorism (High Risk Offenders) Act.
Under the act, authorities can detain prisoners who nurse extremist beliefs even after their sentence ends. They can also monitor them after their release.
Ceissman originally served four years and four months for a combination of joyriding, dangerous driving and assaulting police.
During his imprisonment, Ceissman was allegedly radicalised and took up Islamic State ideology.
He was accused of telling an inmate he planned to move to Syria for weapons training before returning to Australia to attack Marrickville Police Station in Sydney’s inner west.
Despite the allegations, Ceissman was released on April 15, with strict conditions on top of an interim supervision order.
Ceissman was thrown back in custody five days after he failed to inform authorities of downloading apps on his phone, including the dating app ‘F***book’.
What’s more, a police investigation uncovered encrypted messages on Whatsapp and Facebook, a photo of Ceissman with a raised index finger in the trademark Islamic State salute, and places like the Police Academy in Goulburn, Goulburn Correctional Centre and Silverwater Correctional Complex pinpointed in Google Maps.
AAP reported that the court heard Ceissman tried to flee from police officers during the arrest.
While Central Local Court magistrate Robert Williams said there was no ‘direct harm’ when Ceismann breached his supervision orders, he posed an ‘overriding risk’ of ‘committing terrorist offences’.
Ceissman has not been charged with a terror offence and has gone on to deny harbouring extremist views.
He will be up for parole in mid-December, with the sentence starting back to when he was arrested on April 20.
Supreme Court judge Stephen Rothman has since put Ceissman on a two-year extended supervision order.
Source: Daily Mail