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| Down Under |
| Bloodthirsty holy men still active in Australia |
| 2005-11-04 |
| MUSLIM clerics in Sydney and Melbourne - led by radicals Sheik Mohammed Omran and Sheik Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud - are still preaching hatred against the West, urging followers in Arabic to resist peace and support insurgents waging war against Australian soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. In open defiance of John Howard's proposed new terror laws and the Prime Minister's demand that Muslim leaders desist from inflammatory rhetoric, Lakemba cleric Sheik Zoud has used his Friday prayer meetings over the past month to praise Muslim fighters. "Allah yinsur el-mujaheddin fe-Iraq (God grant victory to the mujaheddin in Iraq)," he repeatedly screamed during a 35-minute Arabic sermon at Lakemba's Haldon Street prayer hall in Sydney's southwest last week. In further contempt of Mr Howard, Sheik Zoud's high-profile counterpart in Melbourne, Sheik Omran, also declared last month: "No victory (for Islam's brothers and sisters) can be stopped by George Bush or Tony Blair or John Howard." Under expanded sedition provisions, people face up to seven years' jail for promoting feelings of ill will or hostility between different groups so as to threaten the peace, order and government of the commonwealth. This would include urging another person to engage in conduct that supports an organisation or country at war with Australia. A third cleric - Harun Abu Talha, editor of contentious newspaper Mecca News - has also used Friday prayers at Sheik Omran's Brunswick mosque in Melbourne to attack "the criminal government of Israel that has been hurting our brothers and sisters in Palestine for so many years". And during a prayer meeting last month, Abu Talha said: "We should not compromise our dean (religion) for the sake of peace." He concluded his sermon: "May Allah help the mujaheddin in Iraq." The message the fundamentalist clerics are delivering to their supporters - mostly in Arabic - is in dramatic contrast to their public statements. Last month, Sheik Zoud told about 400 followers in Arabic: "God grant victory to the mujaheddin in Kashmir and Chechnya, and Palestine and Afghanistan." Sheik Zoud, head of the Sydney arm of the Melbourne-based organisation Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah declared: "Inshallah (God willing), dark days will descend upon America soon." But during a newspaper interview last year, Sheik Zoud said: "I'm against all terrorism over the world. I'm against all terrorists who kill civilian people. "Let the Australian people relax. Why everyone make the Australian people scared from the Muslims? "We left our countries because of all of the problems there, and we move to this safe country to live the rest of our life." After Mr Howard singled out Sheik Omran earlier this year for not doing enough to denounce terrorism, the cleric wrote to The Australian: "We consider ourselves Australians working for the betterment of Australia. Those of us who came from other countries appreciate how the people of this country have accepted us with open arms. "Islam teaches us to appreciate kindness, and we wouldn't do anything to betray this gesture." However, during the Ramadan prayer meeting last month, he ridiculed the US's botched handling of the hurricane and floods that destroyed New Orleans: "If they couldn't stop a tiny wave, then they cannot stop us uniting. If you don't unite, your faces will be smeared in dirt." Sheik Omran's message, delivered just days after suicide bombers launched the second major attack on tourists in Bali, was received enthusiastically by the group of 150 men, predominantly in their early 20s and 30s, during a Friday sermon at Brunswick's Michael Street prayer centre in Melbourne's inner north. Sheik Omran gloated over the fears held by Westerners towards the festival of Ramadan, saying history had shown an increase of militant insurgencies and attacks around the world at that time of the year. "The West knows the meaning of Ramadan more than we do, it seems," said the Sheik, who was previously accused by the Spanish authorities of having links to an al-Qa'ida suspect in Europe. "They fear the worst - unity. So what are we doing to unite and defeat evil?" The following week, the sermon was given by Abu Talha, who joked: "We cannot say too much about the mujaheddin in this country." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |