Downer wants Sheik Alhilali to go
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has backed calls for the sacking of Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali as leader of Australia's Muslim community, describing him as a massive embarrassment.
Mr Downer said Sheik Alhilali had become a completely discredited figure and the sooner the Islamic community in Australia dealt with him the better.
"Here is a man who travels the world making all sorts of completely absurd and incredible comments," Mr Downer said.
"This reflects on Australian Muslims and it reflects on Australia.
"This man is a massive embarrassment.
"My view is that he has just got to be removed as the leader of the Islamic community in Australia and some moderate and reasonable person needs to take his place."
Mr Downer is the latest, and most senior, Australian politician to call for the sheik to be sacked as mufti.
The calls intensified after reports the sheik 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.
In a propaganda drive, the Iranian media quoted the sheik as saying the global Islamic nation would not "kneel" to its enemies, The Australian newspaper reported.
"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 website on Saturday.
It reported that Sheik Alhilali, who was in Tehran for the International Islamic Unity forum, told Alalam TV that he was committed to the unity of the Islamic nation.
"(Islamic unity) is what has brought all the participants together at this Islamic unity conference, to show the whole world that they are dedicated to the one God and dedicated to Islamic unity and the Islamic nation will not kneel in front of its enemies, never," Sheik Alhilali was reported as saying.
The mufti's salary was suspended last year after he used a religious address to compare immodestly dressed women with uncovered meat and suggested they invited sexual assault.
He is also under investigation over allegations that he donated funds collected for victims of the war in Lebanon to terrorist groups.
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said the cleric should think about leaving Australia while Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd also called for him to be removed from his position.
Mr Downer questioned in what way the cleric was calling on all Muslims to support Iran.
"Is he calling for people to support Iran's nuclear program, is he calling for Iran to become a nuclear weapons state?" the minister said.
But Mr Downer said it was up to the Islamic community to decide just how to deal with the controversial cleric.
"They have to make their own decisions about their leadership," he said.
"But I would have thought Sheik Alhilali is not only an embarrassment, he is damaging the standing of the Muslim community in Australia and beyond.
"This man just stumbles from one absurdity to another and he is humiliating the Australian Islamic community.
"They need a good and moderate and decent leader and there are plenty of them who could do the job."
Several Islamic community leaders have spoken out against Sheik Alhilali recently, complaining that he does not represent their views.
The sheik was also recently accused of failing to account for $47,000 in donations raised in Australia and earmarked for victims of last year's Israel-Hezbollah war.
It has been reported that after taking charge of the money in Lebanon, the mufti gave at least $12,400 to a supporter of the Iraqi insurgency, Sheik Bilal Shaaban, to fund his radio station.
Mr Downer said the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were already investigating some of the financial activities of Sheik Alhilali and he would leave that investigation to the AFP
Discover Agnes Water Queensland
Agnes Water Accommodation
Next Article: Julalikari council disappointed in Mayor
Previous Article: Police seek hit-and-run driver over boy
