Sympathiser in battle for passport

The Herald Sun By Ian McPhedran June 11, 2003

SUSPECTED terrorist sympathiser Bilal Khazal will almost certainly lose an appeal to get his passport back. Mr Khazal, a Lebanese-Australian, has strong links to numerous Islamic extremist groups including al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, the group behind the Bali bombings.

Authorities are unsure whether the Sydney man has trained with al-Qaeda.

About six other Australians with possible terrorist links have had their passports revoked. Two of them have lost appeals to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

ASIO argued strongly for the passport bans to stand and it is opposing Mr Khazal's appeal.

His passport was revoked after ASIO provided a security assessment to the Federal Government just before he planned to leave on an overseas trip.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer cancelled the passport early last year, but Mr Khazal has been a "person of interest" to ASIO for much longer than that.

"He is someone we have been aware of since well before the Sydney Olympic Games," a government source said.

ABC TV's Four Corners on Monday quoted a CIA report naming Mr Khazal as a supporter of al-Qaeda.

The report was prepared for authorities in the Philippines and was compiled from material provided to the CIA by ASIO.

ASIO has had him under surveillance for several years and is closely monitoring the activities of the Islamic Youth Movement in Sydney. Several IYM members, including

Mr Khazal, are of "real interest" to authorities.

Mr Khazal, a strong supporter of Osama bin Laden, runs an Internet site for the IYM. According to the CIA report, he was involved in planning attacks in the Philippines and Venezuela.

Sydney Lebanese community leader Keysar Trad said Mr Khazal was not a security threat.

"He is abrupt, he is abrasive, he's just someone who's not generally a nice person," Mr Trad said. "I have not seen anything from the group that he associates with that would pose any risk to the security of Australia."

Mr Khazal worked as a baggage handler at Sydney airport's international terminal before March 2000, but he had been off work with a bad back for some time before that.

This year's federal Budget provided funds for security screening of people working on the "air side" of airport terminals including baggage handlers.

Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister John Anderson said airport staff would now face the toughest security checks in the world.

"As I've announced, people who hold cards - airport security cards - will now all face the toughest and most stringent background checks of any country in the Western world, including checks for political involvement and attitude," Mr Anderson said.

Authorities cannot take stronger action against him because he had not broken any laws.