Australia cannot strip citizenship from man over his terrorism convictions, top court says

The High Court last year struck down a separate clause of the law that allowed a dual national imprisoned in Syria to lose his citizenship on suspicion that he had been an Islamic State group fighter.

In 2020, Benbrika became the first extremist, proven or alleged, to lose citizenship rights while still in Australia. The government has not disclosed how many there have been.

Benbrika was convicted in 2008 of three terrorism charges related to a plot to cause mass casualties at a public event in Melbourne. No attack took place.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and would have been released in 2020. But his sentence was extended by three years under a recent law that allowed the continued detention of prisoners convicted or terrorism offenses who a judge ruled posed an unacceptable risk to the community if released.

In 2021, he lost a High Court challenge to his continued detention in a 5-2 split decision.

He will be subjected to a court-imposed supervision order that can allow close scrutiny of his communications, associates and movements when he is released before the end of the year.