Muslim leaders reject Tony Abbott's proposed new terrorism laws

August 20, 2014

(Translation of this article appears in Arabic section

Tony Abbott met with Muslim leaders on Monday. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Muslim leaders across Australia have denounced as unjust, unjustified and hypocritical proposed new counter-terrorism laws and they have refused to "rubber-stamp" them for the government.

In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, more than 60 individuals and organisations, including 10 sheikhs, said that the threat from the ostensible target of the laws - about 150 "radicalised" Muslims returning from Iraq or Syria - had been "trumped up".

"There is no solid evidence to substantiate this threat. Rather, racist caricatures of Muslims as backwards, prone to violence and inherently problematic are being exploited," the statement reads.

"It is instructive that similar issues about Australian troops travelling abroad to fight or Jews travelling to train or fight with the Israeli Defence Force are simply never raised."

The Muslim leaders also pointed out the official terrorism threat level has remained the same since 2001.

The statement was released just two days after Prime Minister Tony Abbott set about selling the sweeping changes and met with Muslim community representatives in Sydney.

At the time, he said his message to Islamic leaders was that everyone should be on "Team Australia".

Australian Muslim Women's Association head Silma Ihram attended the meeting with 20 or so others but said invitees were only told about the Monday morning consultation the preceding Friday evening.

(SMH)