Twelve men accused of terrorism will find out today whether their trial will stop and whether they will be able to apply for bail as a result of being kept in what a Supreme Court judge calls intolerable conditions.The secretary of the Department of Justice has been told by Justice Bernard Bongiorno to respond in an affidavit by noon today to demands the judge has made about improving the men's jail conditions and the way they are transported to court. Justice Bongiorno rejected Crown arguments that the problems could be solved by moving the trial to Geelong or by allowing the men to watch the trial by audio-visual link from Barwon Prison.
The 12 Muslim men, including alleged leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika, have already spent two years in the high-security Acacia Unit at Barwon Prison near Lara. Their trial began on 13 February and soon afterwards defence lawyers applied to have it "stayed", arguing that the men could not get a fair hearing because of their "oppressive" jail and travelling conditions.
Jim Kennan, SC, said the conditions reduced the men's physical and mental ability to follow the evidence and instruct their lawyers. All the men have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which involve the alleged fostering of a terrorist act in pursuit of violent jihad.
Dr Douglas Bell, a forensic psychiatrist, told the court Acacia had an austere and restrictive regime that could cause an ordinary person to experience significant psychological and emotional difficulty, affect the ability to concentrate and perhaps trigger serious psychiatric problems. The men's travel arrangements would add to this, he said. On court days the men are strip-searched and shackled before their 80-minute trips to and from Melbourne. Two of the men were recently moved from Barwon Prison and found by psychiatrists to be too ill to attend court at that time.
Also:
Talk of terror and
Profiles of the accused