Second trial of Melbourne-based terrorist Benbrika ruled 'oppressive'

Melbourne, Sep 21(ANI): A second trial for a convicted Australian terror leader and his followers has been abandoned after a judge found that it would be "oppressive".

Abdul Nacer Benbrika and his followers Aimed Joud, Fadal Sayadi and Ahmed Raad were jailed in 2009 for being members of a terrorist organization, with Benbrika sentenced to 15 years.

They were to face a second trial this year charged with conspiring to do acts in preparation of a terrorist act.

But in a judgment made public on Tuesday, Victorian Supreme Court Justice Terry Forrest said that each of the men would not receive a significantly longer sentence if convicted in the second trial.

"I have concluded that the proposed conspiracy trial is an abuse of the court's process and that I ought to stay it permanently in respect of all accused. The public interest in bringing the accused men to trial is diminished by the fact that they have already been prosecuted and punished for most of their criminal conduct and that they will not receive significant additional terms of imprisonment," the Daily Telegraph quoted Justice Forrest, as saying.

"While I have found that this second prosecution was commenced in good faith, I consider the objective of trying each accused a second time is oppressive. It is oppressive because each of the accused has already been the subject of a very lengthy first criminal trial involving at times unconscionably harsh conditions of incarceration and transport."

"I am satisfied that all four accused men have made out their individual cases for abuse of process on the basis of oppression. In each case, in my view, the oppression outweighs the public interest in trying the accused," he added.

Police and prosecutors are disappointed the case has been abandoned as they consider the evidence against Benbrika and his three co-accused was overwhelming.

Benbrika was one of 17 men arrested in Sydney and Melbourne in November 2005, charged with being members of a terrorist organization and of planning terrorist attacks on targets within the country. (ANI)