Terrorist prisoner Abdul Nacer Benbrika has Australian citizenship cancelled

The federal government has cancelled the citizenship of Abdul Nacer Benbrika, one of Australia’s most notorious terrorists, before his expected release from a Victorian prison.

Benbrika was jailed for 12 years in 2008 for his role in a plot to attack a number of targets in Victoria and New South Wales.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton confirmed the government had now revoked Benbrika’s Australian citizenship.

“I cancelled the Australian citizenship of convicted terrorist Benbrika, [making him] the first individual to have lost citizenship onshore,” he said.

“He has been notified of the citizenship loss and he will remain in prison while an interim detention order is in place.”

Last year, intelligence authorities raised concerns with the government’s powers, saying that stripping convicted or suspected terrorists of their citizenship could have unintended consequences.

But Mr Dutton said the government was doing what it thought was “appropriate” to protect Australians from the danger posed by Benbrika.

“In this instance, he spoke about thousands and thousands of Australians being killed, that’s what he advocated for at the time,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter who it is; if it’s a person who’s posing a significant terrorist threat to our country, then we’ll do whatever is possible within Australian law to protect Australians.

Source: The New Daily