Category Archives: Australia

Football NSW backs cultural diversity, welcomes IFAB decision on hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

FNSW logoFootball NSW has thrown its support behind Harmony Day, a day designed to recognise Australia’s cultural diversity as well as women footballers.

Harmony Day is an initiative of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). It gives people the opportunity to celebrate what makes each Australian unique and share what we have in common.

In 2012, the Harmony Day theme is sport – play, engage, inspire recognises the important role and positive influence that sport has in our multicultural nation.

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NSW identity law requires veils to be removed for JPs, lawyers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim women will be required to remove face veils as part of new identity check laws in NSW.

From April 30, anyone who asks a Justice of the Peace or lawyer to witness statutory declarations or affidavits will have to remove all head coverings including motorcycle helmets and masks to prove who they are.

NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith said JPs and lawyers will in future be required to see the face of anyone making statutory declarations or affidavits and to confirm their identity.

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Australia: man arrested over mosque attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Newcastle mosque attackNewcastle police say a two-month long investigation combined with information from the community has led to a 25-year-old man being charged over an attack on a local mosque.

Early last month several men tried to kick in the door of the Wallsend mosque after childrens’ scripture classes. A Maryland man will face court in April after being charged with intimidation, causing malicious damage and entering enclosed lands.

Newcastle Crime Manager, Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Humphrey says the investigation is ongoing. “It’s just another example of the public doing the right thing and giving the information to police. The actions of the person are now subject to Court so I can’t comment on those but a lot of crimes are solved by the information from the public being accurate and timely, and in this case it’s been very successful.”

Detective Chief Inspector Humphrey says the incident was caught on CCTV and police used the footage as well information from the public to make an arrest.

“There’ve been enquiries ongoing and as a result of some good information from the public at least one of the persons has been identified and spoken to by police and he’s been issued future court attendance notices,” he said. “We anticipate that another gentleman who could assist us with our inquiries will be spoken to in the coming weeks when he returns from interstate.”

ABC Online, 28 February 2012

Islamic Society of Victoria to sue Australian security service for harassment

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Preston Mosque MelbourneThe Islamic Society of Victoria is preparing to take legal action against ASIO [Australian Security Intelligence Organisation] for what it says is constant harassment and bullying.

Members of the Preston Mosque in Melbourne’s north claim intelligence operatives are approaching worshippers on a daily basis, offering them jobs and demanding personal information.

The secretary of the Islamic Society of Victoria, Baha Yehia, believes sermons are being monitored and he wants the harassment to stop. “We will go to Canberra if we have to. We will go to Canberra and we will complain directly to the Prime Minister,” he said.

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Women want the chance to bend it like Beckham, headscarves and all

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lakembaroos footballers

Muslim Lakembaroos are free to wear the hijab when they take to the soccer field in club competitions in Sydney every week.

The only thing they need to watch is that their headscarves match their uniforms, just as their male counterparts must wear an undershirt the same colour as their jerseys.

But any young Muslim Lakembaroo with aspirations of making the Matildas and going to an Olympics knows her career may never get off the ground under FIFA laws banning the hijab in international competition.

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Australian fast-food store sells halal burgers – and then it doesn’t

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hungry Jack's halal

Hungry Jack’s is being targeted by angry customers who allege the fast-food company pressured a Melbourne franchisee to stop serving halal food.

The social media campaign against Hungry Jack’s stems from claims that the chain’s Tullamarine store was issued with a halal certificate by the Islamic Coordinating Council of Victoria in December that sanctioned a number of its chicken and beef burgers as halal.

News of the halal Hungry Jack’s spread across the internet and through text messages to Muslim fans who had been pleading with the restaurant to consider serving halal food. “Woo hoo! I’ve been hoping for ages that a hungry jacks becomes halal! How excitement,” one fan posted on an internet forum. Another eager customer posted a photograph of what appeared to be the genuine halal certificate.

But then last week Hungry Jack’s tweeted that none of its stores were halal and apologised “to customers led to believe otherwise by the Tullamarine franchisee”. Signs were put up at the Tullamarine store notifying customers that it did not offer halal food.

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Former Test cricketer tweets Australia Day slur against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Former Test cricketer Rodney Hogg’s anti-Muslim slur on Twitter was “more than despicable, it’s the pits really”, the leader of an Islamic group said today.

Hogg is embroiled in a racial controversy after an ill-advised attempt at humour on Australia Day.

“Just put out my aussie flag for Australia Day but I wasn’t sure if it would offend Muslims…So I wrote ‘Allah is a shit’ on it to make sure,” Hogg tweeted at midday today.

Sydney Morning Herald, 26 January 2012

Australian newspaper blamed disappearance of murdered woman on ‘Muslim hardliners’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Barney ZwartzLast week the Melbourne newspaper The Age ran a piece about a Christian convert of Iranian origin named Mandy Ahmadi (formerly Zahara Ramizadegan) who had been reported missing by her husband.

Readers were told of fears that Mrs Ahmadi had been “abducted by Muslim hardliners because of her attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity”. The notorious anti-Muslim bigot Danny Nalliah, head of the right-wing Christian fundamentalist Catch The Fire Ministries, was quoted as suggesting that “her zeal had come to the attention of militants, possibly in Iran itself”.

The author of The Age‘s report, the paper’s religious affairs correspondent Barney Zwartz [pictured], helpfully explained: “Islam, strictly interpreted, mandates death for adults who leave the religion, and there are many cases of Iranian converts being killed, both in Iran and in Europe. The same penalty may be applied to those who seek to persuade Muslims to leave their religion.”

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