Sydney hostage-taker's partner ordered to jail

Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson told the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney that Amira Droudis, posed an "unacceptable risk" to the community to remain on bail.

"The case against the accused is stronger than it was 12 months ago, Henson told the court, before announcing that he had revoked Droudis' bail and ordered that she be taken into custody immediately.

He declined to provide further details, but the DPA news agency reported that this came after videos emerged of Droudis advocating terrorism.

Gunman out on bail

The gunman who took 17 people hostage in a Sydney café and held them for 16 hours last Monday, Man Haron Monis, had also been out on bail although he faced charges of being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife as well as in connection with a series of alleged sexual offenses.

His ex-wife, Noleen Hayson Pal, was killed in a rather gruesome fashion in April 2013, with investigators determining that she had been stabbed 18 times before being set on fire.

The decision to revoke Droudis' bail was welcomed by the premier of the state of News South Wales, Mike Baird (pictured above, left).

A statement released by Baird's office said that the "government expects community safety to be front and centre of all bail decisions and that is why the attorney-general expressed concern and requested a review of the case".

There was much public outrage in Australia over the fact that Monis was out on bail when he laid siege to the Lindt Café last week. Prime Minister Tony Abbot responded by ordering an urgent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the siege and why Monis had been free and not under surveillance despite the seriousness of the charges against him.

Monis, an Iranian-born self-styled Muslim cleric, as well as two of his hostages, died when Australian security forces moved in to end the siege in the early hours of last Tuesday.

pfd/es (dpa, AFP)