A teenage former terror suspect who had charges against him dropped for lack of evidence has been hit with a highly restrictive control order that restricts him to worshipping in one mosque only, and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet.
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Harun Causevic, 18, was one of three young men initially charged with being a part of an alleged Anzac Day terror plot at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance. The charges were dropped last month after the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions deemed there was not enough evidence.
But last week, the Australian Federal Police applied successfully before a federal magistrate to impose severe restrictions on the young man, using substantially the same facts as were presented in the original case.
The restrictions comprehensively control Mr Causevic's movements, both in the real world and online.
They include a midnight-to-5am curfew living at the family home and wearing an electronic monitoring and a tracking device at all times. He is prohibited from going within 500 metres of an airport or port, within 100m of the Shrine of Remembrance or the Dandenong-Cranbourne RSL (which was also alleged to have been a target of the plot); or within 100m of a "military establishment".
He is not to go to a prison "unless you are incarcerated there".
The order also names six people Mr Causevic is not allowed to talk to, including his former co-accused Sevdet Besim, who is in custody; Mehran Azami, who has pleaded guilty to a number of weapons charges; and Harun Mehicevic, the leader of the radical Al-Furqan prayer room in Springvale.
Mr Causevic's internet service provider, email, mobile phone service, landline and any SIM card he uses must be approved by police, and he is restricted to using one Voice Over the Internet service, and only if it's approved by police.
He is barred from viewing on electronic media anything that depicts "execution, beheading, suicide attack, bombing, terrorist attack, propaganda and promotional material for a terrorist organisation", except where shown on TV or in a cinema, or is published in a media outlet "recognised by the Australian Press Council or Australian Communications and Media Authority".
He is also required to be counselled by a person approved by police.
But the most controversial clause will be one restricting his place of worship.
Not only does this control stop him going to the Al-Furqan Islamic Information Centre - Springvale's recently closed radical prayer room - but it prevents him going to any mosque other than the Emir Sultan Mosque in Dandenong, a Turkish-run mosque and not the usual Noble Park mosque that is attended by Mr Causevic's Bosnian family.
The mosque restriction appears to be a restriction on Mr Causevic's constitutional right to religious freedom, and will be highly controversial in the Muslim community, where it may be seen to taint the religion with suggestions of violent radicalism.
Mr Causevic's lawyers would not comment to Fairfax Media, and have not indicated whether they would take action against the order on constitutional grounds.
