Western Resistance

« Germany: Surveillance Of Islamic Extremists Before World Cup | | EU: Don't Say "Islamic Terrorism" Even If It's True »

April 10, 2006

Australia: Infiltration Of Islamist Group Raises Questions

On November 8 last year, a series of early morning arrests was made, at twenty homes in both Sydney and in Melbourne, during which 16 people were apprehended. Most of these would later be accused of belonging to a terrorist group. The operation, mounted by 400 police, was the culmination of 16 months of surveillance.

The people arrested were suspected of being ready to mount an imminent jihadist attack. After the arrests, Victoria's Chief Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said police had prevented a major terrorist attack, but also said that the group did not have "a specific target in mind".

At a court hearing on Friday November 11, a twenty-page police fact sheet was presented, in which it was revealed that six of those accused had mounted "reconnaissance missions" at Lucas Heights in the outskirts of Sydney. It is here that there is a research-based nuclear reactor, which, the report stated, was a potential attack target of the group.

The accused were all connected with their "spiritual leader", 46-year old Abu Nacer Benbrika (pictured), who had urged his followers to create "maximum damage". In secret recordings made by police surveillance, he had said in February 2005: "If we want to die for jihad we have to have maximum damage. Maximum damage. Damage their buildings, everything. Damage their lives to show them. In this we will have to be careful."

Algerian-born Benbrika was among the individuals arrested in the pre-dawn raids on March 7. He had arrived in Australia in May 1989 on a one-month visa. He had his visa extended twice, before he had been listed as a prohibited citizen. With support of the Preston Mosque in Melbourne, he had challenged attempts by immigration authorities to have him deported. He married a Lebanese-Australian woman in 1992, and they had their seventh child last year. He has told authorities that his life would be in danger if returned to Algeria. At the time of his arrest, he was living in Dallas, Sydney.

At a bail hearing on December 17 at the Melbourne Magistrates Court it was claimed by the prosecutor that Benbrika had been recorded in surveillance operations discussing the killing of Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Benbrika was recorded talking also of killing police, and also families at football matches.

Now, the Melbourne Age states that Victoria State police had been the first force to employ an undercover officer to infiltrate an Islamist group.

The Age suggests that in late 2004, the undercover "plant" had travelled with Benbrika to Mount Disappointment, north of Melbourne, to test explosives. The explosives had been secretly supplied by the police themselves, who monitored the trip as part of their ongoing counter-terror operation, code-named Operation Pendennis.

The use of an undercover officer in the operation is now raising questions about the legitimacy of this action. The man is thought by The Age to be of Middle-Eastern descent, and had pretended to share Benbrika's extreme Sunni beliefs.

The most pressing questions concern notions of entrapment and also whether the officer had encouraged the group in its actions. Those arrested from Melbourne are charged under laws brought in in 2002, which make it illegal to be part of an organisation "that is directly or indirectly engaged in preparing, planning, assisting in or fostering the doing of a terrorist act," whether or not any such act actually takes place.

Darren Palmer. a criminologist from Deakin University, spoke of the dangers of an infiltrator acting as an agent provocateur. He said: "It's always a murky area and you up the ante when dealing with terrorism because some of the new offences may rely simply on words and other actions rather than any material act."

He spoke of how much action an infiltrator must do to prove his "credibility" to a terror group, and what in these circumstances is classed as acceptable.

The Age quoted Lex Lasry, QC, of Victoria's Criminal Bar Association, who said use of under-cover agents "increased tensions in relation to issues of entrapment and incitement." He said: "under the new laws, someone's actual words may constitute an offence. So there is no objective way to test the validity or truth of those words. How do you prove they would have said it in front of someone else?"

There are no laws of entrapment in Australia, and previous cases, where the public interest has been demonstrated, have been allowed by the High Court.

Counter-terrorism expert Neil Fergus told The Age: "I don't think any police service is ignorant of the risk of entrapment, but it clearly has to be a risk when you have someone posing as a member of a group."

Ten of those arrested in November are facing charges under the 2002 laws, and two weeks ago, three more individuals were taken in fresh raids and charged accordingly. Abu Nacer Benbrika faces the same charges, with additional counts of directing, recruiting and supporting a terrorist organisation.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 10, 2006 8:19 PM

Comments

Post a comment