Call to list al-Shabaab as terror group

August 09

THE Somali-based terror group al-Shabaab should be listed as a terrorist organisation, opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis said today.

His comments come five days after five men were charged in Victoria over their alleged links to the a terrorist plot and the radical fundamentalist group.

The men, of Somali and Lebanese descent, had planned a suicide shoot-out at Sydney's Holsworthy military base.

"In view of the events that happened in Melbourne this week, we would be most surprised were al-Shabaab not to be listed," Senator Brandis told Sky News.

Al-Shabaab is not listed as a terrorist group in Australia but has been listed in the United States since February 2008.

When asked if proscribing al-Shabbab as a terror group would send them underground, Senator Brandis said the group was a covert operation picked up by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

"So, I don't think driving them underground is really the issue."

Senator Brandis said the opposition would await the details of national security assessments, but he accused Attorney-General Robert McClelland of "dragging his feet" on counter terrorism policy.

Mr McClelland on Saturday said the Federal Government would consider changing the regime that governs whether or not radical groups are listed as terrorist organisations.

He said the Government was considering a review of the proscription process, making more transparent the criteria applied when identifying a terrorist group.

"In the next couple of weeks it is anticipated we will be issuing a discussion paper on the proscription regime and specifically identifying the informal criteria that are applied by the security agencies," he told ABC radio.

Source: The Australian

Terrorism suspects 'sought religious approval'

The arrests come after a seven-month counter-terrorism operation.

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."

Source: ABC Online

Police swoop on Melbourne homes after Somali Islamists' terror plot exposed

EXCLUSIVE: Cameron Stewart, Lauren Wilson | August 04, 2009

A PLOT by Islamic extremists in Melbourne to launch a suicide attack on an Australian Army base has been uncovered by national security agencies.

Federal and state police, armed with search warrants, swooped on members of the suspected terror cell this morning, as they seek to arrest Australian nationals of Somali and Lebanese background in what will be the second-largest counter-terrorism operation in the nation's history.

About 400 police raided homes in the northern Melbourne suburbs of Glenroy, Meadow Heights, Roxburgh Park, Broadmeadows, Westmeadows, Preston and Epping. They also raided homes at Carlton in inner Melbourne and Colac in southwestern Victoria.

"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 joint police statement said.

The men are expected to be charged with a range of terrorism-related offences.

Authorities believe the group is at an advanced stage of preparing to storm an Australian Army base, using automatic weapons, as punishment for Australia's military involvement in Muslim countries. It is understood the men plan to kill as many soldiers as possible before they are themselves killed.

Members of the group have been observed carrying out surveillance of Holsworthy Barracks in western Sydney and other suspicious activity around defence bases in Victoria.

Electronic surveillance on the suspects is believed to have picked up discussions about ways to obtain weapons to carry out what would be the worst terror attack on Australian soil.

The cell has been inspired by the Somalia-based terrorist movement al-Shabaab, with two Melbourne men, both Somalis, having travelled to Somalia in recent months to obtain training with the extremist organisation, which is aligned with al-Qa'ida. Read more...

Source: The Australian

Asesinoz MC leader says Aussies 'racist'

By Janet Fife-Yeomans

May 07

THE leader of Sydney's radical Middle Eastern street gang - Asesinoz MC - yesterday accused Australians of racism.

The 29-year-old, who calls himself Sam "The Assassin", defended the Parramatta-based gang's violent image in its YouTube videos and MySpace site.

They promote anti-Australian sentiment and flag burning.

"There are a handful of good Australians but most are racist by assuming Lebanese people are responsible for all crimes," he told The Daily Telegraph, speaking publicly for the first time.

"When they see a Middle Eastern walking down the street they assume they are Lebanese.

"I am half Lebanese and half Iraqi but I want the public and the police to know this: Don't forget about the Persians, Iraqis, Afghanis, Turks etc . . . because they do crimes too. That is why we have posted these videos up."

The president of one of the city's newest street gangs, he said he was known as Sam Asesinoz, which means assassin in Spanish, although it was not his real name.

On the gang's MySpace site, he warns: "Now we can't be f. . . . . with, coz we will take your life, we are the true soldiers."

He revealed yesterday that the Asesinoz MC had 70 members.

Source: The Australian
Read more on this story at The Daily Telegraph

Breakaway Muslims vote to dismiss executive

Angus Hohenboken, Natalie O'Brien March 24

A FAULTLINE through the most powerful Muslim organisation in the country deepened last night as a breakaway faction of the Lebanese Muslim Association voted to sack its executive.

The meeting of young MLA members, labelled the "Taliban of Lakemba" by controversial Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, was held outside Bankstown Town Hall in west Sydney after the group was reportedly shut out of the venue due to security concerns.

The 54 association members at the meeting voted unanimously in favour of motions of no confidence in the board's six executive office-holders.

"All we are asking is for a fair vote in April," Bilal Alameddine said. "From today there will basically be two boards directing what goes on in the (Lakemba) Mosque: nine on our side and six on their side."

Members said that, while the no confidence motions named the board's six office-holders, no one was singled out -- rather it was a vote of no confidence in the executive amid concerns the vote for the new board at the annual general meeting next month would be rigged.

The power struggle is mainly between the younger generation and the old guard, with tensions escalating in recent years.

LMA president Shawky Kassir said the executive would not accept the vote, as the executive was accepted by the majority of the organisation's 400 members.

"There is only one legitimate board," Mr Kassir said. "Irrelevant of its outcome, the meeting was not legal.

"They go and meet wherever they want and whenever they want -- any decision outside the proper procedure of the LMA constitutional law will not be accepted by the members and everybody around the mosque."

One senior Muslim said the younger group were "crazy and will stop at nothing".

The LMA board had previously sent a letter to the members attempting to cancel the meeting, and failed in an attempt to get an injunction in the Supreme Court to stop the meeting going ahead.

Mr Alameddine, who strenuously denied claims the group had Taliban ideology, said the cancelled venue booking was another example of the "political games" being played by the board. "The council asked the police for a risk assessment over the meeting and the police said there was no risk, but the council still cancelled the meeting because of security concerns," he said. "We are not radicals."

Bankstown City Council could not be contacted at the time of going to publication.

Trouble was expected at the Lakemba Mosque last Friday after confrontations last week between supporters of Sheik Hilali and his rivals, but a guest imam from Lebanon gave the sermon instead of Sheik Hilali.

Several scuffles have broken out during prayer times after the Nine Network's A Current Affair played security video footage of Sheik Hilali kicking in a door in his own mosque before calling in the police to report an act of vandalism.

The Muslim youths believe Sheik Hilali staged the vandalism to frame them and gain public support.

Sheik Hilali has denied the allegations and says there is more CCTV footage that proves there was a break-in.

Source: The Australian

Hilali kicks door, blames vandals

Image is Photoshopped for entertainment purposes

Natalie O'Brien, Angus Hohenboken | March 19

AUSTRALIA'S most controversial sheik, Taj Din al-Hilali, has been caught on videotape kicking in a door at his own mosque before calling police to report an act of vandalism.

The head imam at the Lakemba mosque, who caused outrage in 2006 by comparing scantily clad women to uncovered meat, was shown on a CCTV security tape kicking open the door just minutes before reporting the incident.

The Nine Network's A Current Affair last night broadcast the videotape from March 9, showing the incident, which Sheik Hilali initially denied.

"There is a trick in this camera. There is a trick in this film," he told ACA.

But in a letter sent by Sheik Hilali's lawyers to ACA yesterday, he admitted kicking the door, saying the damage had already been done to the door before he kicked it.

"What he did do was to kick open a door to the mosque that had already been damaged by others in order to gain entry to it," the letter said.

Lebanese Muslim Association president Shawky Kassir said they had called the police "for a little problem, but we have fixed (it) and everything is under control".

The footage shows four young men locking the door behind them at 10.28pm.

Nine minutes later, Sheik Hilali checks the lock and pushes on the top of the door, bending it on its hinges. After checking the corridor, he disappears from view before rushing towards it and kicking it open at 10.46pm.

It is understood the name of the suspected culprit was put forward to NSW police, but it is not known if he was interviewed by the authorities.

A NSW Police media spokesperson said they started to investigate the matter but three days later were told by a mosque official that he did not wish to take the matter any further.

"The matter remains under investigation. Further senior members of the local community will be consulted to discuss the incident."

Source: The Australian
Taj Din al-Hilali
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

Brawls can Lebanese gang flick

March 01

GREATER Union has pulled an Australian movie about Lebanese gang violence in Sydney within days of its release after brawls erupted outside screenings.

The film's distributor, Australian Film Syndicate, said Greater Union informed them of its decision to end screenings of The Combination last night following violence outside cinemas.

The Combination, made in Sydney's multi-cultural western suburbs, deals with violence and racism among young white and Middle Eastern Australians.

The cinema chain withdrew the film from four key cinemas after violence flared among patrons in Parramatta and Liverpool on Saturday, although the decision may be reviewed.

The film's director David Field, said the move was a crushing blow.

"We've worked so hard, had so little sleep in recent weeks, we're devastated,'' he said today.

"I'd hoped to get nine hours sleep last night. At midnight I got a text message that they were pulling the film.''

He denied the incidents were connected to race or ethnic conflict.

Greater Union said on Sunday the safety of staff and patrons was paramount.

"Maintaining the safety and security of our staff and patrons is our main concern and priority,'' Greater Union general manager of operations Robert Flynn said in a statement.

"As such, a decision has been made to suspend all sessions of this film within NSW.''


AFS was also upset by the decision.

"The first Australian film to be released in 2009 is experiencing exceptional box office in its first week of release, which makes this unprecedented move all the more devastating for everyone involved, especially for the audiences that are now going to miss out,'' AFS spokeswoman Allanah Zitserman said in a statement.

Although we do not support the decision by Greater Union to pull the film from its NSW sites, we respect and understand their position.''

Despite the Greater Union ban, the film was showing in 27 other locations nationwide, including Hoyts and independents.

However the four cinemas which withdrew the movie - Sydney's George Street, Liverpool, Parramatta and Burwood - were located in the key target market where most of the box office takings were expected, Ms Zitserman told AAP.

Mr Field hoped a way could be found to reverse the decision.

"It's a beautiful film, it doesn't advocate violence, I hope people can calm down and I'm hoping we can find a way to amend the situation.''

Screen Australia CEO Dr Ruth Harley said the film was still playing in many other theatres and she encouraged people to see it.

"I believe it's a good film that's had terrific reviews and is a film of our times,'' she said.

''...we would encourage people to see it.''

Greater Union spokeswoman Melissa Kesby said the chain was investigating complaints and the film may re-open at a later date.

"If we feel that our staff and patrons will be in a safe environment then yes, we will," she told the ABC.

Keysar Trad, the president of the Islamic Friendship Association, said there was no need to suspend the movie.

"From what I know, the incidents were not connected to the movie which itself doesn't glorify violence.

"This is a society which celebrates free speech and suspending this movie is an infringement of that," he said.

Source: Daily Telegraph

Religious divide drives bikie war

Dylan Welch, Police Reporter | February 16

AN ANCIENT religious enmity is at the centre of a new conflict in the Sydney bikie scene, with a new gang comprised mainly of Sunni Muslims warring with a group of bikies with a Shiite Muslim background.

While detectives continue to investigate the February 4 bombing of a Hells Angels clubhouse in Crystal Street, Petersham, police and other sources are indicating that the city chapter of the Comanchero is involved in an escalating feud with a new club, Notorious.

The president of Notorious is a Lebanese-Australian with a long-standing association with a bikie from a colourful Sydney Sunni Lebanese family. The two are among Sydney's original "Nike" bikies - sporting white sneakers, fashionable T-shirts and clean-shaven instead of the traditional boots, dirty vests and bushy beards - and both are from Sunni families from Sydney's west.

Notorious is considered by gang squad detectives to be the prime suspect in the Crystal Street bombing. One of its mottos is "Only the dead see the end of war" and its "colours", or coat of arms, is a turbaned skeleton holding twin pistols with "Original Gangster" beneath it. Today is the first time the club's colours have been revealed publicly.

On the other side of the conflict is the president of the Comanchero City Crew, a Beirut-born Shiite who grew up in the St George area. Comanchero has been one of the motorcycle gangs that have embraced the new breed of "Nike" bikie, and have been recruiting from the Lebanese and Islander communities for several years.

Traditionally, Lebanese Muslim migrants to Sydney have been geographically and religiously divided. The Sunni majority live in Sydney's west and south-west, mainly around Auburn and Bankstown, while the Shiite minority live in the St George area. "The two groups have no love lost between them," a senior police said.

They have been fighting since the Sunni bikie, one of Sydney's most well-known gangsters, became president of the Nomads Parramatta chapter in the late 1990s.

In 2006, he was jailed over a Newcastle shooting. The following year, the Parramatta chapter's Granville headquarters was bombed, allegedly by the Comanchero, and the chapter subsequently disbanded.

A few of its members formed Notorious, probably at the request of the Sunni bikie.

"[The Sunni bikie] left the Nomads while he was on remand," said an investigator who has watched the two groups for years. "He was telling people he was planning to start up his own club. Around about the same time, Notorious appeared."

Unlike the Sunni bikie and the Notorious president, the Comanchero City Crew president was born in Beirut and grew up in Sydney's southern suburbs. He appeared on television in 2005 following the Cronulla riot and Maroubra reprisal violence, when he met members of the Bra Boys to calm tensions.

When Fairfax Media asked the president of the Hells Angels city chapter about the bombing, he was succinct: "I've got nothing to say, thank you."

But bikie sources said the Angels believe Notorious may be responsible for the attack, which closed down Crystal Street for a day and damaged seven neighbouring businesses.

Neither police nor the Hells Angels have established why Notorious may have attacked the club, though the senior police source offered a simple answer: "They're just bloody crazy."

In the latest violence, a Comanchero member was shot in the leg when he was confronted by five Hells Angels at a park in Silverwater on February 7.

Source: Brisbane Times

Crime, machismo: deadly cocktail killing young men

Dylan Welch Police Reporter
October 25, 2008

A PROMINENT youth worker has used the funeral of a young Lebanese man shot dead on Wednesday to appeal for other young men in Sydney to turn from a life of crime and empty machismo.

"All we seem to do is just turn against each other. That's why we're just dropping like flies," Fadi Abdul-Rahman told hundreds of mourners at the funeral of Mustafa Assoum, 26, at Lakemba Mosque.

Mr Assoum, a volunteer youth worker at Abdul-Rahman's youth centre, was shot dead at Warwick Farm early on Wednesday.

Mr Abdul-Rahman spoke to the congregation, which included Mr Assoum's wife, his four-year-old son and four-month-old daughter, about the perils of crime.

"When you stand before Allah it's not your macho that will make a difference. Not your dollars, not your castles, not all your cars … Learn from Mustafa."

Mr Assoum was murdered two months after the funeral for another young Lebanese-Australian man from Lakemba, who died from bullet wounds.

Kalid Dib, 25, from Lidcombe, was killed by a security guard during an abortive armoured van robbery in Parramatta in August.

Outside the mosque Mr Abdul-Rahman called on society to prevent more killings in the Lebanese-Australian community.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald