Category Archives: Australia

Australian broadcaster ordered to pay $10,000 for racial vilification

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Alan JonesBroadcaster Alan Jones has been ordered to pay Muslim community leader Keysar Trad $10,000, ending a nine year battle over a radio segment found to have “stimulated listeners to hatred” of Lebanese men.

The Civil and Administrative Tribunal found comments broadcast on 2GB in April 2005 “portrayed Lebanese males as criminals and … as posing a threat to the Australian community”.

The tribunal found Mr Trad’s complaint of racial vilification over the comments, which Jones described as being a letter from a listener, was substantiated.

The letter said Lebanese men “simply rape, pillage and plunder a nation that’s taken them in”. The radio segment followed a story on A Current Affair about a group of men, who Jones said “announced themselves as Lebanese Muslims”, gathering at Brighton-le-Sands and The Rocks.

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Boycott Halal movement in Australia set to escalate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Boycott Halal in Australia

The virulent Boycott Halal movement in Australia is set to escalate with a petition to federal parliament in the New Year demanding the Corporations Act 2001 be changed to mean only Muslims bear the cost of halal certification on everyday products.

Halal products are those deemed permissible for Muslims to eat or use under religious law. Many mainstream products in Australian stores are halal certified including food from SPC, Nestle, Kelloggs and Kraft. Supermarket chains pay for certification for some products, as do dairy factories and meat processors.

Worldwide the halal industry is worth $US 2 trillion and is growing 20% a year. Companies are keen to capitalise on the boom, so halal certification is increasingly common. All products exported to Muslim countries are certified before they go.

Australia has 21 Islamic groups approved by the federal government to issue halal certificates. Of the 21 only four, with one in Melbourne and three in Sydney, get most of the work, including Indonesian contracts.

The new Indonesian government has begun to dismantle an Islamic agency which is facing corruption allegations and which approves halal imports from Australia. Halal exports are worth $12 billion with growing competition from China and Brazil.

The Boycott Halal campaign is led by New South Wales farmer Kirralie Smith and supported by extremist groups including the “Islam-critical’ Q-Society, Restore Australia, the Australian Defence League and the Patriots’ Defence League.

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Melbourne Muslim woman Nasrin’s justice ordeal after being attacked twice in two days

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nasrin pulled on her long black abaya and pinned her hijab in place. She did it despite knowing that this day, more than ever, her Islamic dress would make her a target.

It was the Tuesday morning after the Sydney siege at the Lindt cafe in Martin Place and Australia had woken to horror headlines of the death of two hostages. While Nasrin grieved for the victims, she also steeled herself for the worst.

As she left her house in the outer Melbourne suburb of Fawkner, she decided that she would remove the password lock from her mobile, to save her a few seconds if she needed to call police.

Sure enough, the mother-of-three would later dial triple zero after a man allegedly began shouting expletives at her as she travelled into the city to work. More than a week later, the police investigation remains ongoing after a 40-year-old Merlynston man was spoken to and released.

Since October, the IT professional says she has been abused three times by strangers who have taken offence to her Islamic dress.

Two of the episodes took place on the Upfield train line during or shortly after the fatal cafe siege. The other was in October, when Nasrin, who wished to use just her first name, said some politicians were advocating banning the burqa in Australia, fuelling anti-Islamic sentiment.

“The government isn’t doing anything to address these issues and I’m an innocent victim of their ignorant bigoted comments by the parliament members,” she said. “We need to hold people accountable from the top.”

There has recently been a surge in reports of violence and harassment against Australian Muslims. In the six days to Tuesday there were 27 reports made to the Islamophobia Register, including at least three in Victoria.

The register’s spokeswoman, Lydia Shelly, suspects there may be many other cases that have gone unreported. She said the majority of public attacks were against women and often in the presence of children.

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Australian Defence League head Ralph Cerminara charged after provoking brawl outside mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ralph CerminaraThe head of the Australian Defence League is one of three people who have been charged over a brawl near a mosque in Sydney’s west overnight.

Ralph Cerminara and a second member of controversial anti-Islamic group will face court on Tuesday after they were arrested in Lakemba on Monday night and charged with affray. A third man, who is not a member of the league, was also arrested during the brawl and has been charged by police.

Officers were called to Haldon Street in Lakemba about 8.40pm on Monday to break up a fight involving about 10 men. “Police have been told the fight followed derogatory remarks allegedly made by two men towards people attending the mosque,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

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Queensland bar & grill puts up ‘no Muslims’ sign

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eagles Nest Bar and Grill 'No Muslims'This is a sign outside the Eagles Nest Bar and Grill in Longreach, Queensland. It reads in full:

“2000 years ago Jesus Christ made headlines turning water into wine. The tradition continues…. We turn money into beer. (Sorry no Muslims).”

The Boycott Halal in Australia? No Way Facebook page has posted a report from a local resident:

“A friend rang them and asked if they had a sign out front saying ‘Sorry no Muslims’. He said ‘Yes, that’s right’. He was asked ‘What’s your reason for putting the sign there?’, and he said ‘Just, no Muslims’. When asked again ‘But what’s your reason for putting the sign there?’ he hung up.

“We were present when the call was made and confirm what was said. This is clearly discrimination and will be reported to the Australian Discrimination Commission. And it’s certainly unAustralian. Shame on you, Eagles Nest Bar and Grill, Longreach.”

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Muslim woman sues county jail after being forced to attend Christian church service

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sakeena MajeedA Muslim woman who says she was forced to attend Christian church services during a 60-day jail stint in Cleveland on an assault charge has sued the county.

Sakeena Majeed said in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday that a correction officer made her and other Cuyahoga County jail inmates attend Friday afternoon services led by a Baptist minister. She alleged that she was threatened with solitary confinement if she did not attend and that another correction officer mocked her when she refused to actively participate.

“That should be offensive to anybody, no matter what your religion is,” said her attorney Matthew Besser, who filed the lawsuit. “The government can’t tell you what god to pray to or to pray at all.”

Majeed’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. A county prosecutor’s spokesman, Joe Frolik, declined to comment about it on Friday.

Majeed, of suburban Rocky River, was sentenced to the county jail on 3 April after pleading guilty to assault. She was arrested on her lunch hour on 18 July, 2013, after getting into a confrontation with a police officer who had stopped her for jaywalking, Besser said. Records show she was indicted on charges of felonious assault, assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. Her sentence began 11 April.

Forcing someone to attend a church service against his or her will is a clear violation of the constitutional right to freedom of religion, a right that is not lost when someone is incarcerated, Besser said. Majeed primarily wants to bring the jail’s practice to light and to prevent what she experienced from happening to others, he said.

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Anti-Islamic protesters disrupt Martin Place memorial

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sydney Party for Freedom anti-Muslim protest

Sydneysiders paying their respects to siege victims at Martin Place have shouted down a group of anti-Islamic protesters who appeared at the memorial on Friday afternoon.

Four men waving Australian and Southern Cross flags shouted slogans including “Islam is evil” and “not all cultures are evil – Islam is inferior”. The men also accused Muslims of being “murderers” and supporting female genital mutilation, according to a witness.

The group bore signs proclaiming: “Muslim terrorists not wanted here – neither are their leftist supporters”, “Tony Abbott – Will you protect us from multiculturalism?” and “We didn’t start the fire!”

One of the men was Nick Folkes, who has previously been associated with the fringe Australian Protectionist Party and is now the chairman of the “Party for Freedom”, which calls for an end to Muslim immigration and “state-sanctioned multiculturalism”.

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Patriots Defence League president allegedly spat on Canberra driver

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Aaron HudsonThe local head of an Australian “patriots” league allegedly spat on a Canberra driver after monitoring the activities of a local Islamic centre this week, police say.

Aaron Raymond Dudeck, 21, is accused of spitting on the man’s cheek and calling him a “Muslim c—” after their cars collided in Canberra’s south about 8.45pm on Monday, the night of the Sydney Lindt cafe siege.

Police believe Dudeck, also known as Aaron Hudson, is the president of the ACT branch of the Patriots Defence League, an organisation claiming to defend the Australian “way of life”.

He was allegedly driving in the car park of the Canberra Islamic Centre in Monash. The court heard suggestions he was acting on directions from the league’s Sydney branch.

Police say he was watching the centre, a focal point for the local Islamic community, to establish whether it was operating as a mosque or a library. Dudeck allegedly overtook the victim’s car as it approached the exit of the centre’s carpark. Court documents suggest Dudeck later slammed on his brakes, and the car behind him crashed into the rear of his vehicle.

Dudeck is accused of getting out of his car, walking up to the other man’s window, and saying: “Look what you have done you f—ing idiot, you stupid idiot, you Muslim c—.” He then allegedly spat through the man’s open window. Dudeck called police after the crash, allegedly telling them: “If he says one more word, I will knock him out, useless f—ing Arab c—.”

Dudeck was arrested the next day and appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to an offensive behaviour charge, but not guilty to common assault and driving while disqualified.

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Sydney siege aftermath: Man charged following alleged hate threats to Auburn mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hundreds of extra police will flood popular destinations in Sydney following the Martin Place siege and alleged hate threats, including hoax phone calls threatening to destroy a mosque in Auburn.

Assistant Commissioner Michael Fuller said police dealt with a number of “hate and bias” crimes following the fatal siege but said extra officers were being stationed across Sydney’s CBD to ensure people felt safe.

“There has been some issues of hate or bias crime but it’s certainly minimal compared to the outpouring of support and you’ve all seen the flowers at Martin Place,” Mr Fuller said.

The announcement of additional officers came as police arrested a man who allegedly made threatening phone calls to a mosque in Auburn in western Sydney. Police allege the man, 30, rang the mosque and made several threats.

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Sydney cafe siege: Britain First blames Australia terror attack on ‘mass immigration’ and fact Lindt isn’t Halal‑certified

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain First Lindt campaignBritain First has been accused of using the Sydney café siege that involved the death of two hostages to “push conspiracy theories” on its social media channels.

The leader of the right-wing political movement has issued a video message to its Facebook followers blaming the attack by lone gunman Man Haron Monis on “mass immigration”, while a series of posts attempted to link the incident to “halal certification”.

Paul Golding said that an attack on Australia was “an attack on Britain and the British people”, on the grounds that “it was Britain that actually built Australia… the people living there have British ancestry and the Queen is still the head of state”.

He said he was issuing a “warning from a country that is already in deep danger regarding Islamic extremism”. “Every single Western country in the world is facing the threat from jihad, from demographic decline and takeover due to mass immigration,” he said.

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