A Melbourne man accused of being a terrorist sympathiser who allegedly used Twitter to threaten to kill police has had his bail extended.
Khodr Taha, 35, has pleaded guilty to 11 offences and has been on bail since January. Some media outlets reported that Victoria police were opposed to the bail, although police told Melbourne magistrates court on Tuesday that this reporting was incorrect and that they did not oppose the bail or its continuation.
The initial granting of bail for Taha prompted the prime minister, Tony Abbott, to question the judgment of Jelena Popovic, Victoria’s deputy chief magistrate.
“This is someone who appears to have a history of violence and a commitment to extremism and he’s made explicit threats to the police,” Abbott said in January.
“It does seem very, very questionable bit of judicial judgment, injudicious judgment in the judiciary.”
Taha is accused of making a series of offensive and threatening tweets, including a threat made on 14 December to Victoria police that said: “I’m going to hurt your officers.”
In October he posted: “Hoping the next Aussie will be executed live.” In response to the killing of an American hostage by al-Qaida captors in Yemen in December, he posted: “As soon as you get them execute them film it send it to the parents of the victim don’t waste time or food in [sic] them.”
The Brunswick-based man is also accused of tweeting at Daniel Andrews, the Victorian premier: “im gona [sic] kill someone soon and then blame it on the craziness.”
A host of other targets on Twitter included the Commonwealth and Westpac banks, Metro Trains and Yarra Trams and Abbott, who he told to “go fuck yourself”.
To the treasurer, Joe Hockey, he sent a picture of five men being hung and posted a picture of a man using a lawnmower on female genital hair to foreign minister Julie Bishop.
Taha has also pleaded guilty to attacking his mother, an assault which left her with bruising around the head and face.
He has been receiving treatment for drug and alcohol addictions and mental health problems and is on a four-month court integrated services program.
Popovic told Taha on Tuesday that his case manager reported that he had embraced the therapeutic program “fully, openly and honestly” and that he had complied with all of his bail conditions.
Taha will be sentenced in two to three months’ time, Popovic said.
