CLOSE links have emerged between Australia's most radical prayer halls and the alleged terror cells in Melbourne and Sydney amid calls for Islamic clerics to abandon their inflammatory rhetoric.The Australian has learned that at least six of the nine men charged with terror-related offences in Melbourne this week are, or were, devotees of controversial Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran and his group, the Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association. One of them, Adbulla Merhi, who is alleged to have been impatient to carry out Australia's first suicide bombing, has an article on the group's website in which he urges Muslims to stand up for their rights and never "compromise our religion".
The accused men have, until recently, attended prayers at Sheik Omran's Brunswick prayer hall in Melbourne's north, despite also being devotees of another radical cleric, Abdul Nacer Benbrika. The Algerian-born Mr Benbrika, 45, who was once a teacher with Sheik Omran's group but who left some years ago because it was not radical enough, is accused of being the spiritual leader of the alleged terrorist cell. He has been charged with directing a terrorist organisation, an offence carrying up to 25 years in jail. All 17 men involved in the alleged plot to carry out a massive attack on Australian soil remain behind bars today after bail was rejected for two of them, Hany Taha, 31, and the alleged would-be suicide bomber, Mr Merhi, 20.
The decision came as the president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ameer Ali, urged the nation's radical clerics not to "hijack" Islam and to tone down their inflammatory language. "I tell the clerics, please guard your language when you talk," he said. "This is a country that believes in pluralism, it's a multicultural society, we live in a plural society. Your religion does not preach intolerance and I ask them not to hijack the religion."
| And then his lips fell off. |
Sheik Omran and Sheik Zoud's fiery prayer sessions on Fridays are hugely popular among fundamentalist communities in Melbourne and Sydney, with hundreds turning up to hear their sermons. A source familiar with the circle of friends that the eight Sydney terror suspects moved in said they prayed at the Haldon Street prayer hall in Lakemba, but belonged to a subset of Muslims there, not the mainstream followers of Sheik Zoud.
Sheik Omran said in a statement his group "considers the security of our nation with high priority. (But) we would like to express our alarm and uneasiness over the recent arrests (and) hope all those accused receive a fair trial and the presumption of innocence is preserved." A spokesman for Sheik Omran said the cleric would not comment further on the arrests. Islamic sources said Sheik Omran was currently in Jordan.
| Where in Jordan? Zarka? |
In his statement on the association's website, Mr Merhi tells Muslims about their right to pray at work. He says Muslims are allowed by Victorian law to pray at work and warns that "when negotiations fail we must not compromise our religion". He quotes Allah as saying that those who give up prayer "will be thrown in hell" and says "work/education will not be an excuse on the day of resurrection if we neglect our duties regarding prayer. So stand up, oh servants of Allah, and implement Allah's gift of Islam through your whole lives - do we not want to be among the dwellers of paradise?"
A newspaper run by Sheik Omran's group, Mecca News, is currently running a series of articles promoting the theory that September 11 was a giant conspiracy perpetrated by the US Government.