http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/radical-islamic-leader-says-he-will-work-with-asio/2005/08/07/1123353212155.html Wassim Doureihi, spokesman for the Sydney branch of the Muslim Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation.Photo: Steven Siewert
The head of an Islamic organisation being investigated by ASIO says he will co-operate with attempts to establish whether or not Hizb ut-Tahrir is a threat to security or is inciting terrorist behaviour.
Its spokesman, Wassim Doureihi, said he had not been contacted by any federal agencies since the revelation of the investigation at the weekend by The Sun-Herald, but he would “be there when they knock on the door”.
The group was banned in Britain late last week as part of a plan by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to clamp down on extremist groups after the London bombing. As recently as a fortnight ago, the group had done nothing to warrant being banned in Australia.
The Federal Government is considering tough new measures, including a national identity card, a ban on inflammatory language and the longer detention of terrorist suspects without charge.
A review of counter-terrorism arrangements is also expected to be presented to the National Security Committee when it meets this week.
Pakistani Australians condemned the use of terrorist attacks after a 40-strong “unity and harmony” forum was held in Homebush yesterday. Many had feared their perceived silence about the attacks in London might be seen as tacit approval of terrorism, especially given alleged links between the bombing suspects and Pakistan.
Sheikh Musse, the Somali-born imam at the City Mosque in West Melbourne, used an Australian rally marking the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima atom bombing to call for the US to “shrink from aggressiveness” and stop occupying other countries.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, will meet Muslim leaders before his special meeting with state and territory leaders on security arrangements next month.
The President of the Pakistan Muslim League of Australia, Nazim Khan, said he would seek to take part in the meeting.
Hizb ut-Tahrir would attend the meeting if invited, Mr Doureihi said, but only if the Government stopped “Third World practices” that “muzzled criticism”. “I hope they address the root cause [of terrorism], which is not Islamic practices here but the foreign policy of Western governments.”
Mr Howard said that although he found some of the statements previously attributed to Hizb ut-Tahrir unacceptable, he would not speculate on whether the group should be banned until he had seen the report. However, Mr Howard said, it was time to “bust open” groups that might be harbouring people planning any attacks within Australia.
“We have to guard against this country going down the path of other societies where you have closed cells, which are really the product of people being able to operate with a degree of immunity within their own communities,” he told ABC television yesterday.
NSW is also likely to ask for financial assistance from the Federal Government to meet the cost of increased security in Sydney at the summit. The Premier, Morris Iemma, said yesterday: “We are co-operating, and in that we obviously would be look at sharing the financial costs.”
There has been a continuing dispute between the state and federal governments over security for the APEC meeting to be held in Sydney in 2007.
Mr Iemma said he would attend the terrorism summit with an open mind and consider the matters raised by Mr Howard.
The federal Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, wants an inquiry into how the ASIO investigation was leaked. “This is not the act of a serious government,” he said.
RELATEDASIO Moves On Islamic RadicalsBy Kerry-Anne Walsh and Eamonn DuffAugust 7, 2005The Sun-Heraldhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/national/asio-moves-on-islamic-radicals/2005/08/06/1123125941243.htmlThe Federal Government has ordered an urgent ASIO report into a radical Islamic organisation actively recruiting young Muslims in Sydney, following its banning in Britain.Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock demanded the top-secret investigation into the operations of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which describes suicide bombers as martyrs and denounces Western values.
The group would be immediately banned in Australia if the ASIO report found it posed a threat to security or encouraged terrorist behaviour.
The Sun-Herald recently revealed that the group had been secretly meeting in western Sydney and distributing anti-Western literature against the wishes of Islamic community leaders.
With a growing membership of more than 200, members of the group, also known as Party of (Islamic) Liberation, would risk being charged under tough anti-terrorism laws if they continued to meet.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair specifically outlawed Hizb ut-Tahrir on Friday as part of a package of new anti-terror laws prompted by the recent London bombings. British authorities are investigating the organisation’s alleged links to the bombings.
Mr Ruddock confirmed that he had asked security agencies to re-examine whether the group had breached counter-terrorism laws.
“There is no information made available to me that said here in Australia it has been involved in any of the activities that would prompt us domestically to want to ban it,” he said.
“But as you know, where we know an organisation has a presence in Australia – and its activities abroad are of concern – consideration can be given to proscribing it.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir Sydney branch spokesman Wassim Doureihi told The Sun-Herald yesterday: “There’s not much the group wants to say at this point. I want to get my hands on the full facts, then we will speak.”
The Sun-Herald revealed for the first time last month how Hizb ut-Tahrir had suddenly emerged in Australia. Its main objective is to re-establish the caliphate – an Islamic superstate – running from the Middle East across north Africa to Spain, and now reaching to Indonesia. September 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta is understood to have met several Hizb ut-Tahrir members in Germany – where the group is banned.
The group filled the 200-capacity Auburn Town Hall last Saturday.
In addition to the urgent brief on Hizb-ut Tahrir activity, Mr Ruddock is consulting government lawyers on whether radical Melbourne Islamic teacher Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, has breached anti-terrorism laws. Mr Bakr has declared “jihad” was part of his religion.