The NSW government asked the Supreme Court for an extended terrorism order over one man, Mohammed Farhat, and Justice Desmond Fagan refused it in a decision released this week.Whatever the legal merits of that determination, the reasons given for it appear to range a long way past the question the court had to decide, into contested questions of history, politics and international law on which his honour appears to have had no independent expert evidence. Some of the more concerning aspects of the decision are set out below.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles