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Al-Timmi preached jihad in Australia
RADICAL Australian Muslims were exposed to the extremist teachings of an American cleric who has been jailed for life in the US for inciting his followers to commit jihad against the West.The cleric, Sheik Ali al-Timimi, was invited to speak in Australia by this country's most senior fundamentalist cleric, Sheik Mohammed Omran, and gave lectures in Melbourne and also at the controversial Sydney prayer hall in Haldon St, Lakemba, which is run by Sheik Abdul Salam Zoud. Senior Islamic sources say some of Sheik Timimi's sermons, given during a visit in 2000, were recorded and continue to be sold at the bookstore in Sheik Omran's prayer hall in Brunswick - one of several bookstores that have come under scrutiny this week for selling radical Islamic texts. A US court last week sentenced Sheik Timimi to life in prison for his actions in 2001 in inciting Muslims to jihad against the West and, in particular, against Western forces in Afghanistan - only months before Australian troops are scheduled to arrive in that country to help fight the Taliban. Sheik Timimi's call was heeded by a group of followers in the US, 11 of whom were charged with conducting paramilitary training to prepare for "holy war" abroad. The case resulted in nine convictions, the largest number in a US terror case since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Prosecutors described Sheik Timimi as a "purveyor of hate and war" for his role in inciting his followers, and his hefty sentence has sparked debate in the US about the limits of free speech in an era of terrorism. A similar debate has broken out in Australia this week following calls by Australia's best-known Islamic leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, for bans on extremist Islamic literature and for the deportation of Islamic clerics who incite their followers to commit violent acts. Sheik Omran has flatly rejected Sheik Hilali's proposals. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock told The Australian yesterday the Government already had in place measures to ensure potential visitors who might incite violence could be refused a visa. "If you look at the visa arrangements in relation to character testing, we have a lot of people who might euphemistically be described as sheiks who are denied entry to Australia because they might bring discordant messages," Mr Ruddock said. Sheik Timimi enjoys a broad global following among radical Muslims, including in Australia. In an internet message in 2003, he described the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia as a "good omen" for Muslims in an apocalyptic conflict with the West. Sheik Timimi called on his followers to commit jihad against the West only five days after the September 11 terror attacks. Several of them then travelled to Pakistan, where they received military training from Lashkar-i-Taiba, an organisation that has since been branded a terrorist group by the US and Australia. Mr Ruddock said Australia already had laws relating to incitement to commit a terrorist act, but retained an open mind about whether further changes were necessary. "If you are talking jihad, does that constitute incitement to commit a terrorist act? It probably doesn't. Everything depends on the facts," he said. "Do you start trying to define what aspects of a sermon might constitute a criminal offence?" He said he would take a close look at the British Government's plans to create a new offence of "indirect incitement" to commit terrorist acts. But he cautioned that Canberra would not necessarily follow Britain's example. Mr Ruddock said that in some of its proposed counter-terrorism measures, Britain was playing "catch-up" with Australia. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-07-23 |
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