Australia mulls indefinite detention of terror convicts

By Recep Sakur

MELBOURNE, Australia (AA) – Australia's prime minister has proposed new laws to extend the detention of people convicted of terror-related charges once they complete their sentences.

"In the wake of Orlando, Nice and other terrorist incidents as well as our own experience of 16 counter-terrorism operations since September 2014, resulting in the charging of 44 persons, we cannot afford for a moment to be complacent," Malcolm Turnbull told a press conference Monday.

Over the weekend, Turnbull spoke with state and territory leaders of the need to strength the country’s counter-terrorism laws.

"This is a significant public safety and security issue and our governments must do all we can to protect the community from individuals posing a high risk of re-offending and/or those in need of continued rehabilitation," he wrote in a letter to them.

"The guiding principles of a post-sentence preventative detention scheme would be that it cover high-risk terrorist offenders and contain appropriate procedural protections and safeguards."

The proposal, which Turnbull says is still being refined, the concerned convicts would undergo periodic reviews of their deemed risk under a process supervised by courts.

Last week, the prime minister instructed the country’s national counter-terrorism coordinator, Greg Moriarty, to look into whether closer cooperation between agencies could help in identifying potential "lone wolf" attackers.

Attorney-General George Brandis insisted during Monday’s joint press conference that the measures should be regarded as “extended detention” rather than “indefinite detention”, and the time period would be negotiated with states and territories.

“The phrase indefinite detention has been used frequently, including by me. But perhaps it's best to think about this as extended detention so that a period of detention per sentence may be extended for a defined period and then on the application of the Attorney-General. And then when that period," Senator Brandis said.

“First of all, it will of course only apply to individuals who as they approach the end of a sentence of imprisonment, continue to pose an unacceptably high risk to the community because of the failure to - their failure to be rehabilitated as a result of a penal sentence," he added.

“This will be a court supervised process. It will be a process informed by medical and psychological assessment and details about for example, patterns of behaviour while in custody, participation or willingness to participate in rehabilitation programs while in custody.”

The president of the New South Wales Council of Civil Liberties non-governmental organization has described the latest statements as a “distraction” that will detract from addressing “real solutions”.

"People who have been convicted of serious terrorism offences are in jail for many years to come, we're not being told who is about to be released that they're concerned about," Stephen Blanks was quoted saying by news broadcaster ABC.

Australia has been engaged in efforts to increase anti-terror measures in recent years, and has banned its citizens from traveling to Mosul in northern Iraq and Syria’s Raqqa province -- unless they have a "legitimate purpose" for being there.

The country also passed legislation in December to strip dual nationals of their citizenship if they are convicted or suspected of terrorism offenses.