Muslim controversy spreads to Melbourne (another big mouth mufti takes the stage)

Just as Sydney's Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly takes leave after his comments about women, the spotlight fell on comments by a Melbourne cleric, Sheik Mohammed Omran.

Sheik Omran reportedly told his flock on Friday judges discriminate against Muslim rapists.

He said rapes committed by Australian non-Muslims such as bikies or football stars were treated more leniently than those committed by Muslims, The Australian reports.

“I feel there is no justice here. Not 60 years and someone else three years, and they did the same crime. Why?,” Sheik Omran told worshippers at his Brunswick mosque.

“They make a big fuss about these kids because one of them, his name is Mohamed.

'Holy war' books spark legal threat By Clay Lucas July 14, 2005

Mohammed Omran

Photo: John Donegan

A Melbourne Jewish group says it will use Victoria's anti-vilification laws unless a Brunswick group stops selling books that it says call for a "holy war".

"This shop sells books that are inciting hatred," Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Michael Lipshutz said. "The hatred in these books and some of the things they recommend are pretty extreme."

A small bookshop at Brunswick's Ahl Sunnah wal Jamaah Association, run by controversial Sheikh Mohammed Omran, sells books that the Jewish council says are offensive.

Of chief concern, said the council, was Al Wala' wa'l Bara' (Love and Hate for Allah's Sake), by Muhammad Saeed al-Qahtani. It describes all non-Muslims as "the allies of Satan" who should be "trampled underfoot".

"It is either Islam or death," says one chapter detailing why Muslims must not befriend Jews, Christians or non-Muslims.

"If it becomes clear that someone is at odds with Islam, then fight him. The (Jew or Christian) who insults the Prophet should be killed."

Jewish and Islamic groups met yesterday to discuss how they could avoid legal action.

The Jewish council says it will go to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to stop the centre selling the books.

Islamic Council of Victoria president Waleed Aly said he would try to help resolve the dispute. But Sheikh Omran's Brunswick group was not aligned with the Islamic Council, he added.

"The matter doesn't directly concern us because the bookshop is not in any way linked to us. (This is) a marginal organisation and a marginal bookshop."

A spokesman for the bookstore, who asked not to be named, said the shop would consider not stocking the books "if truly they are offensive".

But complaints about the books had been "badly taken out of context", he said. "If a complaint is valid, then we will take the books out."

Last December, in the first case under Victoria's controversial 2001 Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal upheld a complaint from the Islamic Council of Victoria.

It said Muslims were vilified by Christian group Catch the Fire Ministries, which suggested the Koran promoted killing, that only terrorists were true Muslims and that Muslims wanted to rule Australia.

On Monday, Sheikh Omran denied al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden or any Muslim groups were involved in last week's bombings in London, or the September 11 attacks on the United States. http://www.theage.com.au/news/

and who is Bilal Khazal? (Former Qantas baggage handler.)

Brothers guilty in Lebanon stay free here
By Cosima Marriner
December 23, 2003

The Australian Government admitted yesterday it was powerless to extradite two Sydney brothers convicted of terrorist offences in Lebanon, until asked by the Lebanese authorities.

Beirut's Military Court found Bilal and Maher Khazal guilty at the weekend of donating $2000 to an Islamic group which orchestrated a string of bomb attacks in Lebanon.

Despite being sentenced in absentia to 10 years' hard labour, the Khazal brothers remain free in Australia because the Lebanese Government has not sought their return.

Both men are Australian citizens and live in Sydney's west. Bilal Khazal runs the Islamic Youth Movement here.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, confirmed Australia had yet to receive a request to return the two men to Lebanon. "We are ready to extradite them if an extradition request is received," he said yesterday.

But he admitted Australia could not do anything until that time. "You can't send people back to a country unless the country asks for them."

The brothers' lawyer, Adam Houda, said his clients would vigorously oppose any attempt to extradite them to Lebanon.

"We will fight it all the way even if it means going to the High Court," Mr Houda said. "We're not taking the convictions seriously; conviction, sentence - all in their absence, in a military court with no rules of evidence.

"These courts don't pay any regard to the rules of evidence or procedure. It's a kangaroo court."

Mr Houda said evidence heard in the military court had been favourable to the brothers. Mohammed Kaaki, who has been sentenced to 20 years for organising the bombing of a Beirut McDonald's in April, gave evidence he received money from Bilal Khazal, but for Lebanese charities.

"That evidence was corroborated by Kaaki's mother," Mr Houda said.

Mr Houda called Mr Howard a hypocrite for his willingness to co-operate with Lebanon's judicial system.

"John Howard is fully aware how these military tribunals operate," he said. "Instead of . . . dismissing any attempt of an extradition, he's still quite willing and comfortable subjecting a citizen of Australia to that kind of draconian tribunal."

Lebanon's embassy in Canberra told the Herald yesterday it was waiting to hear from its government whether it intended to seek the brothers' return.

Both ASIO and the Australian Federal Police have had Bilal Khazal under surveillance for some time. A former Qantas baggage handler, he is being investigated for alleged links to al-Qaeda. His passport was confiscated last year.

The Justice Minister, Chris Ellison, said Australia had been in discussions with the Lebanese authorities about the Khazal brothers well before Saturday's verdict.

The brothers were accused of giving money to a militant Muslim group called Khaliyat Trablus, based in the northern city of Tripoli. This group allegedly bombed US businesses in Lebanon. The court found 27 people guilty of staging the attacks

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003

IIRC this fat ugly germ is currently under house-arrest.

Jihad text gave rules for killers, court told By Marian Wilkinson June 10, 2005

Accused author … Bilal Khazal, left, is accompanied by his lawyers to his committal hearing at Central Local Court yesterday. Photo: Kate Geraghty

A former Qantas baggage handler who compiled a book outlining "short and wise" rules for fighting jihad on his computer in suburban Lakemba dedicated it to the "martyrs of Islam".

Yesterday the bizarre and often violent text was handed over to Sydney Central Local Court, where its 35-year-old editor, Bilal Khazal, faced a charge of making documents likely to facilitate terrorist acts.

Dressed in a long navy dish-dasha dress shirt, white prayer cap, socks and sandals, the portly Khazal sat impassively as prosecutor Geoffrey Bellew told the court that almost a third of the offending book was directed to the topic of assassination, including a list of attributes needed to be part of an assassination team - "wit and a quick mind", "a terrorist psychology" and "high physical fitness".

The book concluded with praise for al-Qaeda's "impressive success of the conquest of New York" on September 11, 2001.

Defence lawyers for Khazal argued the Lebanese-born father of two had merely compiled the book from documents taken from the internet. But, according to the prosecutor, Khazal wrote the introduction to "Provisions on the Rules of Jihad", where he says he was asked to prepare it by "brothers working to support this religion".

Using a pseudonym, Abu Mohamed Attawheedy, Khazal apologises in the introduction for the poor job on the text, saying it was done in a few days, but "better haste than never".

The book was posted on a Jihadist website from September 2003 to May 2004.

The wide-ranging chapter on assassination, attributed to numerous scholars, debates not only setting up hit squads but explains how mujahideen fighters in Palestine and elsewhere can protect themselves against being hit by the CIA and Mossad.

Among the assassination techniques used by Western intelligence, the book says, are letter bombs, snipers, car bombs and "cake throwing", which it adds, "is well known in the West".

Jihadists are warned to be alert to couples pretending to be joking before attacking the target with cakes. "This could lead to his eyes, nose and mouth being plugged and [he] loses the ability to breathe. Few would suspect the fatal consequences."

But in another section it includes a checklist for jihadist assassins, from getting the budgeting and transport organised, to checking wiring and receivers before attempting to use time-bombs.

Less clear from the text is who are the targets of the jihadist assassins. While the political and military leaders from the West are suggested, along with infidels in Arab countries, including Jews, Christians and Arabs, at times the book insists that "a legal fatwa" must be obtained for assassinations.

Counsel for Khazal, Murugan Thangaraj, argued the book did not instruct people to commit terrorist acts and was only a book about terrorism.

"This document does not direct any specific act to any specific person and is really a general document," Mr Thangaraj said.

He also objected to police laying a second charge against Khazal yesterday of inciting another person to commit a terrorist act. The charge came a year after Khazal's arrest, just as his committal hearing was to start. The hearing continues today.

http://www.ciaonet.org/pbei/winep/policy_2003/2003_791/

New Evidence of Wider Threats from Lebanon's Asbat al-Ansar

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

The Australian Connection

One of the linchpins that ties al-Qaeda, Asbat al-Ansar, and the Tripoli Cell together is Bilal Khazal, an Australian citizen of Lebanese origin. Also known as Abu Suhaib, Khazal is head of Australia's "Islamic Youth Movement" (Ash-Shabab al-Islami), a small but influential group of perhaps 150 members that is suspected of recruiting Islamic radicals. Since 1994, the organization has published a radical Salafist magazine called Nidaa ul-Islam (call of Islam).

According to the Lebanon Daily Star and al-Hayat, Khazal is also a direct financier of Asbat and other radical factions inside Ein al-Hilweh. For example, one member of the Tripoli Cell told a Beirut military court last week that the cell's leader, Mohammed Ka'aki, received at least $1,800 from Khazal. Recent Australian press reports indicate that Khazal has been friends with Ka'aki since the late 1990s, and that Khazal's brother, Maher, met with Ka'aki during the same period to discuss financing for terrorist operations in Lebanon. Beirut issued a warrant for Khazal's arrest in June 2003.

Khazal is known to have other ties to al-Qaeda. Australian authorities have been suspicious of his activities for nearly five years. He is thought to be the organizer of an illegal weapons training camp uncovered in Australia in August 2000. According to the Lebanese daily an-Nahar, authorities searched his home just before the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and in 2001, authorities confiscated his passport based on suspicions that he was linked to al-Qaeda. Australian authorities now indicate that Khazal is closely linked to Mahmoud Habib, an Australian national currently held at Guantanamo Bay.

According to a 2002 CIA document, "the al-Qaeda leadership has allegedly delegated responsibility" to Khazal. The document cited uncorroborated intelligence that he was planning attacks against U.S. targets in the Philippines and Venezuela. The document also claimed that Khazal "was in Afghanistan in 1998, where he was affiliated with Ayman al-Zawahiri and Usama bin Laden." Other reports suggest that Khazal has met repeatedly with Abu Qatada, a London-based radical cleric who was initially detained under Britain's antiterrorism laws and who now faces extradition to Spain after formal charges were placed against him in September for allegedly participating in al-Qaeda.

Keating stopped sheik's expulsion
Brad Norington
October 28, 2006
THE apology from the sheik was profuse. He had verbally attacked women, endorsed suicide bombings in Lebanon and declared that Jews were plotting world domination.
"The two cheapest things in Australia are the flesh of a woman and the meat of a pig," he said.

Taj Din al-Hilali accepted his words were offensive. "I genuinely believe that I have changed for the better," he insisted.

Nothing, it seems, has changed in the last 20 years. The nation's most senior Muslim cleric was not responding to public damnation over his Ramadan sermon last month in which he blamed women for inciting rape and likened them to abandoned "meat".

Chris Hurford, immigration minister in the Hawke Labor government, tried in 1986 to have him deported after Hilali had overstayed a tourist visa in 1982 and settled in Sydney.

Hurford wanted the sheik sent home to Egypt because his reported utterances were dividing the Muslim community.

But Hilali had two powerful Labor supporters on his side - Paul Keating and Leo McLeay - who would ultimately help him win his quest for permanent residency.

Keating, then federal treasurer, and McLeay, an influential backbencher from his party's Right faction, made no bones about their belief that Hilali should stay and lobbied on his behalf.

They were under pressure from the growing local Muslim community in their neighbouring western Sydney seats of Blaxland and Grayndler.

The Lakemba mosque where Hilali was the spiritual leader was in McLeay's electorate.

"It was a local political issue for people who lived in the electorate," said one observer.

"They took the philosophical view that if people in this religious group wanted Hilali to be their spiritual leader, why should they say no?"

But Hurford and other players close to the action take a different view.

They believe that Hilali was ultimately granted permanent residency by the Labor government in 1990 - in a decision made by Keating himself as acting prime minister while Bob Hawke was away - because the decision could help Labor in federal and state politics...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20658333-601,00.html

Proving once again, the Left will sell its soul and your country for a vote!

>Thanks Fred... the last few posts re the "former Quantas baggage handler" Bilal Khazal/Khazzal are very troubling.

I travel quite a bit at times and (without going into detail in public - at times like this I wish I could, but common sense tells me otherwise) have always observed not only glaring lapses in security, and several patterns of behavior that can be expolited to get around aspects of security at some of the worlds major airports, but also how sleeper RoP cells could easily exploit some of the many access points to both aircraft, and the passengers (enabling them to hand off items within "secure" zones).

It's not the first time RoPers with airside access have been arrested or declined access to the aircraft recently. In the last year alone, there were reports of the arrest of a RoPer (Amin Asmin Tariq) airport worker with "all areas pass" at Heathrow during the liquid bomb plot, RoP baggage handlers in Paris have come under scrutiny, and reported incidences like this will only be the tip of the iceberg.

Security is only as strong as its weakest link and often that can come down to one individual... and it seems just about any focused terrorist group can still quite easily plant sleepers within the system, biding their time until the day they are activated to "do their duty."

We need to remember the original Bojinka plot... it was never intended to be a mass suicide mission. KSA et al, may have evolved it into 9/11 because they had expendable assets in place who needed to be used and others have been revisiting and tinkering with Bojinka's original details over the last year or so, but in my mind, and surely in theirs too, Bojinka is still very "do able" despite recent additions to security.

It's not a comforting thought each time you climb to 37,000 feet in an aluminum tube, but who wants to listen, never mind act...

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.