Category Archives: Islam in Australia

Man murders wife with her own veil for being ‘too Australian’

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Soltan Ahmid Azizi told his wife she was nothing but a slave to him with no rights and her sole purpose was to have babies and raise children. Marzeih Rahimi a victim of forced marriage who had endured abuse and was trying to escape, was found strangled to death in the family home.  Her young children who were unharmed, sat next to her.

From The Australian Herald Sun, courtesy TROP

Court hears that Afghan man strangled his wife after complaining she was ‘becoming Australian’

AN Afghan man strangled his wife with her veil after complaining she was “becoming Australian”, a jury has heard.

Mother of five Marzieh Rahimi, who was said to be trying to escape a violent arranged marriage, was killed in front of her baby and toddler.

Soltan Ahmad Azizi, 45, has pleaded not guilty to her murder at their Hampton Park home in November 2007.

The Supreme Court heard yesterday that Ms Rahimi, 33, had told social workers her husband had branded her a slave with no rights.

Prosecutor Peter Rose, SC, told the jury Ms Rahimi had complained her husband punched her and said her only purpose was to have babies and raise children.

Ms Rahimi, who spoke little English and communicated through an interpreter, had told a family violence officer and a health worker that she wanted to leave the marriage, but that she felt powerless, unsupported and fearful.

In his opening address, Mr Rose told jurors that when Mr Azizi learned she’d talked to outsiders he told her she was shaming him and must stop.

“I’ll kill you because I can’t carry the shame,” he allegedly said when she spoke of separation or divorce.

The jury heard that about a week before his wife’s death, Mr Azizi complained to his sister-in-law that she was “becoming Australian and had changed her religion”.

The cousins wed in an arranged marriage and came to Australia as refugees in 2005. Their eldest children were aged 11, nine and six.

Mr Azizi told police he didn’t plan to kill Ms Rahimi. He said he punched her, then “choked her with her veil”; he then rang 000, telling the operator, “I killed my wife … come see. You come. My kids are only little.”

Police found Ms Rahimi on the floor with her baby, three months, and toddler, 22 months, nearby.

“I’m ready for the handcuffs,” he allegedly told them.

Defence lawyer Stratton Langslow urged the jury to consider whether Ms Rahimi’s claims of domestic violence were prompted by post-natal depression.

He said they should examine the source of the abuse complaints and whether there was any independent evidence of ill-treatment.

Mr Langslow said Mr Azizi admitted killing his wife, but the issue was whether he’d meant to.

The jury heard that after one incident, in which she said Mr Azizi repeatedly punched her, she locked herself in a room for several days with her youngest children. He then began to treat her better, she’d said.

The trial, before Justice Betty King, is continuing.

Sydney Australia, fighting another giant mosque.

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From Islam Monitor:

Aubur

As if this huge masjit would not be enough for Auburn

Auburn Council, in Sydney’s west, approved yet another giant mosque (there is already one monstrosity called Gallipoli Mosque in Auburn)   to be built  on a site occupied by a historical  Art Deco fire station on  Harrow Road.

And so it comes as no surprise that the non-Muslim residents are trying to stop the construction  as they  they believe it will become a headquarters for the strict Wahhabi sect of Islam in Sydney. (reference)

Additionally the Muslim buyers of the property do not care that the Fire Station, listed as a Australian heritage building, will be destroyed in the process.

The purpose of the Omar Mosque leadership in acquiring the property was to demolish the Old Auburn Fire Station building, consolidate the site with their three other adjacent properties and build over the new site a grand mosque, capable of accommodating a thousand worshippers at a time.

The new mosque is proposed to have 134 car parking spaces underground in a location that is zoned residential. The DA applicants knew at the time they bought the property that it was subject to heritage protection under the Auburn LEP. They are the same people who a few years earlier built the Al Faisal Islamic School, which is only one hundred metres further down the road from the site. But despite this knowledge of the laws in NSW and their ready access to legal and town planning expertise, which might have motivated them to seek another site, they chose instead to pursue a campaign to have its heritage protection removed by Auburn City Council.

Historical Fire Station at 47 Harrow Road, Auburn

The leaders of the Omar Mosque also probably knew at the time they bought the old fire station site that the Victorian Italianate terrace style cottage next to their existing mosque, formerly used since 1909 as Pegler’s Bakery at 43 Harrow Road, is also of high heritage significance, although not yet on the heritage schedule. Both properties will be demolished to make way for the proposed grand mosque, the main structure of which will stand on the highest hill in Auburn over three stories tall, topped at each of its four corners with a small minaret and a large central dome bearing an Islamic crescent moon. At the apex of the crescent moon, as is now proposed by the applicant, the structure will be close to the height of a five storey building. (source)

Dear Readers, we can stop the destruction of our heritage building and at the same time we can prevent building yet another symbol of Islamic arrogance and disregard for our culture and history.

If you are a resident of New South Wales, please download our petion from HERE, print as many copies as you need and collect as many signatures as you can.
When you finished collecting signatures, please mail the forms to the following address:

P.O. Box 693
Auburn
NSW 2144

If you prefer e-mail you would need to scan the forms after signing and then send them as attachments to: d.*******@**********or.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Unfortunately there is very little time and you would have to send  the forms back to us before January 16, 2010.

If you are not a resident of NSW you can still help by sending THIS letter directly to:

The Hon. Tony Kelly

The Hon. Tony Kelly, ALGA MLC
Minister for Planning
Minister for Infrastructure
Minister for Lands
Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council
Leader of the House in the Legislative Council
Address: The Hon. Tony Kelly, MLC
Parliament House
Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone:     (02) 9230 2528
Fax:     (02) 9230 2530
Email: (Private Secretatry)

sh**************@***********ov.au

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Please remember to send your petition before January 16, 2010.

Some interesting Details about Auburn City Council:

Councillors – Term: September 2009 to September 2010

Izzet Anmak – Independent, Muslim background
Ned Attie – Liberal
Teresa Di Paolo – Labor
Jack Au – Unity
Le Lam – Independent
Patrick Curtin – Labor
Ronney Oueik – Liberal, Muslim background
Malikeh Michels – Greens, Muslim background
Hicham Zraika – Labor, Muslim background
Irene Simms – RAGAA

Top Ten Religions in Auburn Council

Australian tax payer funded terror. 2005 (oldie but goodie)

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By US rules one wonders whether or not the government of Australia should have its assets frozen according to the various terror financing regulations. Frankly it may not be a bad idea. Could force some rational policies. Same goes for England and Canada. And with near certainty all western nations that allow mass immigration of Muslims and offer welfare payments. Come to think of it, I bet the US itself through government programs pays out more to Islamic terror than many Muslim ‘charities’.

H/T Al Avai of Tundra Tabloid

Profile: Abu Bakr BBC H/T with thanks to dontbendoverforallah

Abu Bakr speaking to Australia's ABC - August 2005
Abu Bakr told ABC he was no threat (picture courtesy ABC)

The man accused of being the spiritual leader of a group planning terrorist acts in Australia first came to prominence in August when he praised Osama Bin Laden as “a great man”. Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, made the comments in an interview with Australia’s ABC radio, after it emerged that the country’s security services had taken away his passport.

Mr Bakr, 45, was charged on Tuesday with being a member of a terrorist organisation between July 2004 and November 2005. Continue Reading →

Australia: Parents say son was tormented for eating salami sandwich during Ramadan

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Found on Gates of Vienna. If this was in Saudi I think it would be right and just to be upset. But in Australia? This is nothing more and nothing less than the slow establishment of sharia law by force even if its incremental.

From News.com Au 0,,7168230,00

Boy “chased, assaulted by Muslim students”
Was eating salami during Ramadan
Parents withdraw boy from the school

A SYDNEY couple has withdrawn their two children from a public primary school, claiming their 11-year-old son was bullied by Muslim students because he ate a salami sandwich during Ramadan.

Andrew Grigoriou said yesterday he complained to the school and to police after his son Antonios was chased and later assaulted by Muslim students after a confrontation over the contents of his lunch, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Antonios, a Year 5 student of Greek-Australian background at Punchbowl Public School in Sydney’s southwest, said he and a friend had to be locked inside the library for an hour after being chased by a group of Muslim boys offended by his choice of food while they were fasting.

The Grigoriou family said the following exchange took place:

Muslim student to Antonios: “Why are you eating ham, it’s Ramadan?”

Antonios: “My mum packed this for lunch today.”

Muslim student: “Don’t eat that. How can you eat pig, it’s disgusting.”

During the confrontation a Muslim boy allegedly accused Antonios of saying: “F— the Muslims” but Antonios denied swearing.

Mr Grigoriou said he removed his son and a younger child from the school on Tuesday after the boy was punched in the eye and kicked in the legs by a Muslim student. Continue Reading →

Short news clip on Islam in Australia

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A short news piece on Australia’s reaction to non integrating Muslim immigrants. There is the usual conflict between realists and the politically correct. As I see it, it is very simple. Australia like the rest of the Western world, should show the exact same tolerance to Muslims as they do to Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, agnostics and atheists in Saudi Arabia and all Muslim lands. Also, we should ask ourselves why they all come here, and virtually none of us go there

h/t Gates of Vienna

From the original site:

Ethnic enclaves

The booming growth in ethnic enclaves has led to an extraordinary attack by a former immigration minister. He wants the enclaves broken up and shut down. It’s a debate that’s sparked outrage.

For those of you not familiar with the Cronulla Riots referred to above, here is a documentary about them thanks to KitmanTV

Australian grade 12 students blind sided by exam questions on Islam

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Nick Grogin

Baffled … Nick Grogin, 17 from Riverview, was not happy with parts of the Studies of Religion 1 exam. Source: The Daily Telegraph

DISTRAUGHT HSC candidates have accused the Board of Studies of setting an unfair exam by including questions about subject matter not included in the syllabus.

Students who sat one of the Studies of Religion papers yesterday said they were shocked to find the exam asked them to provide answers they had not covered during the year in class.

Teachers also complained that part of the paper sat by almost 14,000 candidates across NSW on Thursday afternoon was unfair.

The Daily Telegraph’s website was deluged with complaints by angry Year 12 students but the Board of Studies denied the exam was unfair or contained misleading material.

A school master said: “Our students found section one and section two of today’s Studies of Religion HSC very fair but were upset with section three . . . as were the teachers.”

Question four on Islam, worth 20 marks, gave candidates a quotation referring to the Qur’an and the prophet Muhammad. Then it asked candidates: “With reference to the quotation, analyse the role played by the revelation through the Prophet in the life of Muslims.”

One student identified only as Clare said: “When we reached section three I think most students in the state had a communal heart attack as we discovered obscure and obtuse questions which were from absolutely no part of the otherwise very straightforward syllabus.

“I just lost 20 marks from a paper I studied very hard for.”

As a number of schools called for an explanation, Newington College student Nick Grogin said he was stunned by one question.

“I had never seen anything like that in the syllabus,” he said. “Nothing about it related to what I had studied and been taught.”

Board of Studies chief executive Carol Taylor said she was aware of students’ concerns.

” I’d like to reassure them that the question was based on the syllabus and that it was looking for their knowledge of their mandatory depth study of a religion,” she said.

“The quotations used in the questions seem to have thrown some students – they were intended as a prompt or stepping stone into their answer and they will not be expected to have studied the quotations themselves.”

Muslim ‘spiritual leader’ busted for sending hate mail to families of deceased troops

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Self-styled ‘cleric’ ( really, what other kind is there?) Sheik Haron has been arrested by Australian authorities for sending the families’ of deceased soldiers letters filled with vulgarity and hatred. Calling them killers, murderers and criminals engaged in a war of invasion, Haron went on to further write of Private Greg Sher, ” he is 1,000 times worse than a pig and, why should we call a pig a hero?”

Breanna Till, girlfriend of Sergeant Bill Till who was killed in March, was confronted at his funeral by a supporter of Sheik Haron who handed her one of the hate-filled letters. In addition to the mail sent to the seven families, Haron had scores of such mail which he posted on his website which has since been suspended.

Of course the spiritual leader proclaimed his innocence claiming ” I can explain everything”…….

From The Telegraph U.K.

Muslim ‘cleric’ arrested for sending hate mail to families of dead Australian soldiers

A self-styled Muslim cleric is facing up to 14 years in jail after he was accused of sending hate mail to the families of Australian soldiers killed fighting in Afghanistan.

By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney
Published: 3:16PM BST 22 Oct 2009

Police charged a 45-year-old man from Sydney, named in local press as Sheikh Haron, with sending “harassing and offensive letters to family members of soldiers killed whilst serving in Afghanistan.”

One letter was reportedly delivered to a grieving widow at her husband’s funeral. Another, allegedly written to the family of a commando killed in January, read: “I feel bad that you have lost your son but I don’t feel bad that a murderer of innocent civilians has lost his life.”

Mr Haron is accused of sending letters to the families of seven soldiers who died in Afghanistan, calling them “criminals”, “murderers” and “killers” who were fighting a war of invasion.

He described one of the deceased soldiers, a Jewish man, as a “1,000 times worse” than a pig and a “murderer of innocents.”

“Some people don’t eat the meat of a pig but they are dirtier than (a) pig,” Mr Haron wrote of Private Greg Sher, according to The Australian newspaper.

“What’s the point if some people don’t eat pork while their behaviour is worse than dirty animals? Why should we call a pig a hero?” he allegedly wrote.

Felix Sher, Greg’s father, said the letter deeply shocked his family.

“Anti-semitism isn’t something that is strange to us,” Mr Sher said.

“However, what really affected us was when we found out it went to people like Breanna Till, and people like that – that’s what hurts more. Why would these people be subject to such abuse?”

Miss Breanna Till, the girlfriend of Sergeant Brett Till who was killed while defusing a bomb in March, was allegedly confronted by one of Mr Haron’s supporters during Sgt Till’s funeral.

There, the supporter presented Miss Till with one of Mr Haron’s letters, the Australian reported.

After the claims of harassment and hate mail emerged, Mr Haron, reportedly an Iranian-born immigrant who describes himself as an Islamic spiritual leader, told the Sydney Daily Telegraph he was innocent and “can explain everything.”

The outspoken cleric posted scores of letters, including those to the soldiers, on a website under his name. The site has since been suspended.

Australian politicians were quick to condemn the letters.

Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, said news of the hate campaign would make “people’s stomachs turn”.

Mr Rudd also said he would consider whether Australia’s immigration laws should be changed to allow citizenship to be revoked in such cases.

“Every decent-minded Australian should be giving those families not just a thought but a prayer and their support, in any practical way, when these horrible things are brought back to their memory,” he said.

The Australian Federal Police would not comment on the matter, but said their inquiries were “ongoing”.

Australia has about 1,500 troops in Afghanistan – the ninth-largest contingent of foreign troops – and 11 of its soldiers have died there since 2001, most of them in the past 12 months.

Earlier this week John Faulkner, the defence minister, said he wanted Australian soldiers out of Afghanistan in the “shortest time frame possible”.

Australia: Five jihadists convicted of terror plot

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Five men convicted of terror plot in Australia’s longest trial

A court in Australia has found five men guilty of stockpiling bomb-making instructions and purchasing explosive chemicals as part of a plot to carry out a terrorist attack, bringing an end to one of the country’s longest running trials.

By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney
Published: 3:00AM BST 16 Oct 2009

The jury deliberated for a month before finding the men guilty of conspiring to commit acts in preparation for a terrorist attack. Each face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Abdul Hasan, Khaled Cheikho, Mohamed Elomar, Mohammed Jamal and Moustafa Cheikho have been in custody for nearly four years after they were arrested during raids on their homes in south-west Sydney in 2005.

During the 10-month trial, which started in November after eight months of pre-trial hearings, prosecutor Richard Maidment told the jury in the New South Wales Supreme Court that the men planned to use explosive devices or firearms to commit “extreme violence” in a bid to force Australia’s government to change its policy on Middle East conflicts. The target of the attack has never been released.

The Crown argued the men were stockpiling chemicals, firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition. It said they were influenced by the teachings of the Mujahadeen: “You kill us, we kill you … you bomb us, so we bomb you”.

Prosecutors said three of the men had taken part in paramilitary-style camps in far western New South Wales to prepare for an attack. The defence claimed the men were just camping.

The jury was also told that one of the accused, Moustafa Cheikho, had attended a paramilitary training camp in Pakistan run by the terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Toiba, but a key FBI witness told the court he could not be sure it was the man.

The jury heard from 300 witnesses, examined 3,000 exhibits, watched 30 days of surveillance tapes and listened to 18 hours of phone intercepts. However, no direct evidence was ever shown to the jury to link the accused men to the plot or the supposed target of the terrorist act and the proescution admitted the evidence was circumstantial.

Despite this, the jury was convinced that there was sufficient proof that the men were involved in a conspiracy to prepare for a terrorist act that according to authorities, was intended to create “maximum damage”.

The trial took place in a specially-built high-security court building in Sydney’s west.

There, the verdict was greeted with anger by supporters of the men. The group of supporters started shouting their protest as they watched the ruling being handed down on a screen outside the court.

Islamism Must Carry a Price

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CPP…By Daniel Greenfield  Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Islamists are sworn to make war on the West, to drive out freedom and democracy, replacing them with the mandated tyranny of Islamic law.They declare all laws and all nations that do not originate or abide by Islamic law to be invalid. And they reserve the right to make war on them by any means necessary, from the political to the economic to the terroristic.

And yet it might surprise many people to realize that most Islamists are not haggard fanatics living off dried goat meat in caves. Instead many of them are doctors and lawyers working in major American and European cities, they serve as advisors to Western politicians and write newspaper columns. Their organizations are treated with respect and given veto power over the policies of governments whose existence they reject.

And that in a nutshell is the trouble of it all. Because Islamism should carry a price, instead it only carries rewards. Islamists in Europe and America do not actually have to be isolated hermits working out of a few ghettos. Instead they are able to gain all the benefits of the West, from advanced degrees to high paying jobs to political recognition, while maintaining their hatred for the West. Continue Reading →

Australian Muslim group wants holy holidays realized

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From NineMSN/9news

Muslims want Islamic holidays recognised

12:18 AEST Sat Sep 12 2009
Keysar Trad says shop owners should recognise Muslim-orientated public holidays. (AAP)
Keysar Trad says shop owners should recognise Muslim-orientated public holidays. (AAP)

Sep 12, 2009

A leading Muslim spokesman has criticised new NSW laws that enshrine the rights of staff to refuse to work on Christian-orientated public holidays.

Do you agree with the new public holiday laws? See what ninemsn readers had to say.

The state government is banning most shops from opening on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Easter Sunday and Good Friday unless their owners can prove compelling demand from the local community.

Shops will also only be able to open for half a day on ANZAC day.

The new law prevents shop owners forcing staff to work on those days.

Sydney-based Muslim community spokesman Keysar Trad said workers of all faiths were entitled to a break and called for the two main Muslim public holidays to be recognised as well.

“It does give the impression that we are a solely Christian nation and it raises the issue of other religions too, whether you are Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim,” he told AAP on Saturday.

“I know Muslim workers face problems asking for their public holidays off work at the moment.

“There are only two Muslim public holidays, so it is not a lot to ask.” Continue Reading →

Top 10 reasons why sharia law is not good for any society, anywhere

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The following article is from American Thinker. Though written in 2005, it’s message is still relevant and poignant, perhaps even more so today. It is lengthy, but well worth reading.

As I write this, England has 85 active sharia courts with more promised to come. Canada faces a lively and unapologetic sharia underground and has seen a disproportionate share of recent, suspected honour killings. Italy and France struggle with near impossible sharia demands as does Australia, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Scotland, Spain and the United States, to name a scant few. Christians world-wide are being persecuted in the name of Islamic law along with thousands of Muslims with a particular cruel bent toward women and children. Muslim gays are being tracked, tormented, ridiculed, beaten, jailed and murdered.  Anti-Semitism, anti-Western and anti-Israeli rhetoric have all increased.

James Arlandson writes a thoroughly researched and thoughtful article complete with abundant source material on whether Islam is just in it’s laws that Muhammed himself invented, practiced and introduced to the world. The article in short, says NO to the query for 10 verifiable reasons.

ten reasons why sharia is bad for all societies

By James Arlandson

Traditional Muslims who understand the Quran and the hadith believe that sharia (Islamic law) expresses the highest and best goals for all societies. It is the will of Allah.
But is Islam just in its laws that Muhammad himself practiced and invented?

This article says no for ten verifiable reasons.

Here are four points you must read, before reading this article:

First, sometimes these ten points quote the Quran or omit it; sometimes they quote the hadith (reports of Muhammad’s words and actions outside of the Quran) or omit it. This is done only to keep down the length of the article. No one should be fooled into believing that these harsh and excessive laws were invented in the fevered imagination of extremists who came long after Muhammad. These harsh and excessive laws come directly from the founder of Islam in his Quran and in his example in the hadith. Continue Reading →

‘Jihad Shielas’ showing that Islam really is for psychopaths

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H/T jdamn

These women love the ‘clay pot’ logical fallacy. “I never borrowed your clay pot and it was broken when I got it.” It is their defence for nearly every time they are caught working with the enemies of Western Civilization.

It is also critical to understand what she and other Muslims mean when they say “Defend Islam with my life.” It means enforce Islam’s laws customs rules and edicts on us as Islam commands. Islam has many examples of lingusistic slight of hand and these women use them all. ‘Defence’ means attack you if you stop us from ruling you. ‘Innocent’ means a Muslim and ‘Guilty’ means an infidel. ‘Peace’ means we agree not to attack you until we have a strategic advantage and so on. This documentary is made from the perspective of these two Muslim converts. So stop it now and again and think about what you hear and see from these women. It’s like the old joke:

‘How do you know XXX is lying? Her lips are moving.’

In this case, its a studied practiced and codified system of fooling the non Muslim in order to rule them dating back to the time of Mohamed. Even Thomas Jefferson was taken in by a fake ‘peace treaty’ one in English, and the other not and the two treaties said radically different things.

Terrorism suspects ‘sought religious approval’

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Story from ABC.NET where there are videos and audio on this story and aspects of it.

oz police truck

Five men being questioned over an alleged terrorist conspiracy had sought a religious ruling to authorise an attack in Australia, a court has heard.

Their arrests come after a seven-month counter-terrorism operation and police raids across Melbourne this morning.

It is alleged five men were planning to carry out an armed attack on the Holsworthy army base in Sydney.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard some of them discussed obtaining a religious ruling from overseas or interstate in support of their alleged plans.

One of the suspects, Nayef El Sayed, 25, of Glenroy, has been charged with a terrorism-related offence.

During his brief court appearance he sat behind a window and refused to stand to acknowledge the magistrate because, as his lawyer explained, his religious beliefs meant he felt he should only stand for God and not a man.

He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to face court again in October.

Federal Police also won an application to further question three other suspects who appeared in court today but have not been charged.

Victorian Magistrate Peter Reardon acts of terrorism in Madrid, Mumbai and London have struck at the heart of democratic society and investigators should be allowed to fully investigate such serious allegations.

A fifth suspect is in custody on other matters.

Raids

About 400 law enforcement officers took part in the series of raids that led to today’s arrests.

The 19 raids took place across Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Australian Federal Police Acting Chief Commissioner Tony Negus says the operation was the result of seven months’ work by several agencies.

He says more arrests are possible.

“There are further inquiries being conducted both in Australia and overseas,” he said.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia will not be increasing its terror alert level.

“Our assessment of the terrorist threat in Australia is that it comes from a small number of individuals who should in no way be taken as a wider reflection of any group within Australian society,” he said.

But he says today’s events are a strong reminder of the security threats facing the nation.

“The threat of terrorism is alive and well and this requires continued vigilance,” he said.

Call for calm

Some of those arrested have a Somalian background and Islamic groups are urging people not to seek retaliation against Melbourne’s African community.

Shereen Hassan, the vice-president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, says Muslims have been shocked by the raids and are calling for calm amid fears of a backlash.

“But we have faith that the overwhelming majority of Australians will not react in this way and remain calm,” she said.

“[We] urge the wider community and the media to respect the privacy of the families concerned.

“The overwhelming majority of Australian Muslims unequivocally condemn all forms of terrorism.”

Mohamed Baaruud from the Somalia Advocacy Action Group says the community cannot believe some Somali Australians have been implicated.

“We are all shocked,” he said.

“This is the last thing we were expecting.

“Our community came to Australia about 17 years ago when the civil war started in Somalia and it took us a long time to recover from the trauma that we have experienced in our country of origin and start a new life here in Australia.”

Doctor Jamal Rifi from the Lebanese Muslim Association says the authorities are to be congratulated for preventing the alleged attack.

“We’ll do our best for anyone who will have any information to actually contact the relevant authority and to work cooperatively to uncover any or similar events that may take place,” he said.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says authorities feared the group was planning to carry out its attack in the near future.

“It was likely imminent and that was part of the reason behind moving as we have,” he said.

Security

NSW Premier Nathan Rees says he is satisfied the security at Sydney’s Holsworthy Barracks is adequate.

Mr Scipione says security at the barracks was stepped up earlier this year, shortly after police became aware of the alleged plot.

Private guards are in charge of perimeter security at Holsworthy and other army bases.

Mr Rees says he has no problems with the arrangements in place at the state’s military facilities.

“I have every confidence that the Australian Defence Force is more than adequately capable of looking after their assets, their bases and so on,” he said.

Newspaper investigated

Meanwhile, Victoria Police is also investigating The Australian newspaper for publishing details of the raids about the time they were occurring.

Police claim the story was available before some of the arrests took place and could have compromised the operation.

But The Australian says the story only ran in its late edition which was not available until after the raids.

It says its online publishing schedule was altered to ensure the story was not made public until the raids had occurred.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland says he will investigate the timing of the story.

‘Matter of time’

In other developments, a Somali community leader and Islamic scholar says he warned the Federal Government two years ago that a terrorist incident could occur in Australia.

Dr Herse Hilole, now a resident academic at the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur, told The World Today that he has expected such activities.

“My suspicion was that young Somali Muslims could be or may be used in the future to carry out some terrorist activities in Australia,” he said.

He criticised the Federal Government’s response to his warning.

“The response at the beginning was good, but the current government of Australia … [it] seems that they did not take this seriously,” he said.

“I proposed last year a project to help this situation, but my project was rejected by the Government.”

Australia detains terror suspects

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OzBBC…Australian police have arrested four people in the southern city of Melbourne after uncovering what they say was a plot to launch an attack.

The group was preparing a suicide attack on an army base, police said.

More than 400 officers were involved in searching 19 properties across the city before dawn on Tuesday.

The suspects are Australian nationals of Somali and Lebanese descent; one man, aged 25, has so far been charged with terrorism offences.

The man from the Glenroy district of Melbourne is due in court later, as are the others detained in the operation.

‘Sobering’

“Police believe members of a Melbourne-based group have been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia and allegedly involved in hostilities in Somalia,” a police statement said.

The men’s intention was to actually go into the army barracks and to kill as many soldiers as they could before they themselves were killed,” said Tony Negus, acting chief commissioner of the Australian Federal Police.

Holsworthy Barracks on the outskirts of Sydney was one of the planned targets, according to police.

The attack would have been the most serious terrorist attack on Australian soil, he added.

“Members of the group have been actively seeking a fatwa or religious ruling to justify a terror attack on Australia,” said Mr Negus.

“The sobering element of today’s development is the reminder to all Australians that the threat of terrorism is alive and well, and this requires continued vigilance on the part of our security authorities,” said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

The country’s security level is unchanged at medium, where it has remained since 2003.

Al-Qaeda links

The police said that the raids came after a seven-month operation involving several state and federal agencies.

Homes across several northern Melbourne suburbs were among those raided, The Australian reports.

It adds that those arrested are thought to be linked to the Somali-based al-Shabab group, which seeks to overthrow the Somali government and is believed to have links to al-Qaeda.

The BBC’s Nick Bryant, in Sydney, says reports suggest electronic surveillance was used to monitor members of the group.

Members of the Melbourne-based cell reportedly travelled to Somalia in recent months to train, The Australian reports.