Free Republic

SUDANESE President Omar al-Beshir danced, punched the air in delight with his walking stick and shouted 'God is Great' in his first public appearance today as a war crimes suspect. Hours after being named by the International Criminal Court prosecutor over alleged crimes and genocide in Darfur, Beshir appeared to have hardly a care in the world at an elaborate ceremony to ink Sudan's new electoral law. The message was clear: in Sudan, it was business as usual. Sitting on a high podium in the giant Chinese-built Friendship Hall in Khartoum before more than 500 supporters and Sudan's most senior...

A SENIOR Iranian cleric said on Friday that plans by the US to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist group invited a fight with the Iranian nation which America could not win. “Americans should know that in this field, as with nuclear energy, they are dealing with the whole nation,” Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran. "And the great nation of Iran will never abandon its revolutionary people. “Americans should know that if they act madly in this regard, they would be entering a swamp they won't be able to get out of,” the...

AUSTRALIA has lost patience with Mufti Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilali and he should think about somewhere else to live, Immigration Minister Kekin Andrews says. Calls for the sheik to be sacked intensified today after reports that he travelled to Tehran and urged Muslims worldwide to support the Iranian government of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, whose nuclear ambitions have raised the ire of the international community. "The mufti of Australia has called on the Islamic world to stand in the trenches with the Islamic Republic of Iran which possesses the might and the power," the Iranian Alalam News reported in Arabic on its...

FEDERAL police say a rocket launcher seized as part of an investigation into a Sydney man with alleged links to a terrorist cell was "active" and could have been fired. Taha Abdul Rahman was arrested at a house in Leumeah, in Sydney's south-west, in January and charged with a string of offences over seven stolen M72 rocket launchers. One of those M72s was obtained by a police "source" last year and handed over as part of a controlled operation. Police, the defence department and ASIO are continuing to hunt for another six of the weapons still not accounted for. The...

FORMER Guantanamo Bay detainee and NSW election candidate Mamdouh Habib says there are no terrorists in Australia. Mr Habib launched his campaign today for next month's state election on a human rights platform on which he opposes the country's anti-terror laws. He said the laws were not necessary in a peaceful country like Australia. "We have no terrorists in Australia," Mr Habib said in the Sydney electorate of Auburn. "This country is a peaceful country, I believe Australia is the best country in the world. "The terror laws are if you have terrorists, but we don't have terrorists, I believe."...

A radical Muslim cleric has urged hundreds of supporters meeting in Sydney's south-west to join a global push to create an Islamic utopia. Indonesian firebrand cleric Ismail Yusanto outlined his plan for instituting Sharia law, the absolute form of Islam, to a crowd of about 500 people gathered at the Khilafah Conference in Lakemba. The meeting was organised by the Australian arm of the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group widely known for its anti-democratic, anti-Semitic views. The group believes that it can reduce suffering around the globe by introducing Sharia law and creating an Islamic utopia. The NSW government...

SHEIK Taj al-Din al-Hilali pulled out of giving the Friday sermon at his Sydney mosque today after being warned to tone down his "freak show" rhetoric. Members of the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), which runs the popular Lakemba mosque, intercepted Australia's most senior Muslim cleric on his way to give the sermon. LMA president Tom Zreika said the sheik pulled out after being told his sermon had to be apolitical, avoiding talk of the Lebanese Muslim candidates expected to run at the March state election. The sheik yesterday ruled himself out of running, but said he would endorse the candidates,...

CONTROVERSIAL Muslim cleric Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilali has won an Australia Day award - as the country's Un-Australian of the Year. The Mufti of Australia was awarded the gong by men's magazine Zoo Weekly for a series of controversial remarks over the past year, including that women invited rape by the way they dressed and that Muslims had more right to live in Australia than those with convict ancestors. He headed a list of the magazine's tongue-in-cheek top 10, released today ahead of Thursday's Australian of the Year Awards. Zoo Weekly features editor Gregor Stronach described the magazine's nominees as...

SHEIK Taj el-Din el-Hilaly, Australia's leading Muslim cleric, supports Islamic fundamentalists fighting wars with suicide bombers and terror. Sheikh el-Hilaly admires Egyptian writer and cleric Sayyid Qutb -- the founder of violent Islamic fundamentalism and spiritual guru to al-Qaida. Qutb was also mentor to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the brains of al-Qaida and lieutenant to Osama bin Laden. Zawahiri's uncle was Qutb's lawyer and a close family friend. Sheikh el-Hilaly made his feelings known in a radio interview this month. And another Sydney Muslim cleric, Ibrahim el-Shafie, of the Bankstown mosque, said he heard el-Hilaly preach that Qutb was a great leader...

AUSTRALIA'S top Muslim cleric Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali should be sacked and deported for comments which essentially excused young Muslim men who committed rape, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward said. Ms Goward said the sheik had a history of making such comments and many would feel Australia's tolerance had been abused. "It is incitement to a crime. Young Muslim men who now rape women can cite this in court, can quote this man ... their leader in court," she told the Nine Network. "It's time we stopped just saying he should apologise. It is time the Islamic community did more...

The head of the Federal Government's Muslim Advisory Group says Hezbollah is not a terrorist organisation and should be removed from a list of banned organisations. Dr Ameer Ali has also accused the Australian Government of having no independent policy on the Middle East, saying it follows the United States and Israel. He says Hezbollah should not be considered in the same league as Al Qaeda. Dr Ali says he is going to write to Mr Howard asking for the group to be removed from a list of banned terrorist organisations. "Hezbollah is not a terrorist organisation, it's not a...

A WAR of words of almost biblical proportions has broken out between Australia's most senior Catholic and a Muslim leader. Islamic Information and Services Network president Abu Hamza, of Coburg, wants the Bible banned because it incites violence. He called Archbishop George Pell a "clown" for his comments this year that the Koran was full of "invocations to violence". Mr Hamza told his followers the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, was full of murder and seemed to condone rape. Dr Pell replied from the Vatican this week: "I am not sure how much Mr Hamza's comments improve the situation, but...

RADICAL Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir yesterday said the Bali bombing victims were destined to die by God and their families should now convert to Islam. He also called on Prime Minister John Howard to become a Muslim or burn in hell. Mr Howard has written to Indonesia's president to express disgust at Bashir. Just 24 hours after being released from prison for his part in the 2002 bombings, Bashir said becoming Muslims would give the bereaved relatives "salvation and peace". "For the Bali bomb families, those who are non-Muslims, my suggestion is just convert to Islam so they can...

IRAN'S hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today brushed off a decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency to report his country to the UN Security Council as "funny" and labelled his country's enemies as "idiots". "You can pass as many resolutions as you like and be happy about it, but you cannot stop the progress of the Iranian people... We thank God that our enemies are idiots," he was quoted as saying by Iranian news agencies. The IAEA voted yesterday to report Iran to the UN Security Council amid fears the country is seeking nuclear weapons. Iran argues it only wants...