Australian terrorism fears intensify

A bomb-disposal expert in Green Valley, southwest of Sydney, after anti-terror raids. Ian Waldie / Getty Images

CANBERRA - The arrest of a radical Muslim cleric on terrorism charges yesterday and the planned deportation of another have heightened fears of deadly homegrown fundamentalist cells prepared to wage war on Australia.

Melbourne cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakir, who has publicly supported Osama bin Laden, was yesterday accused of being the spiritual leader of an alleged terror group planning attacks on Sydney and Melbourne.

On Monday a court refused to quash a deportation order against Iranian-born Sheik Mansour Lehaei, identified by intelligence officials as a threat to national security.

Both were among an outspoken group who have preached jihad against the West, backed terror acts abroad, and in some cases preached that Islam cannot exist side-by-side with a secular Australian state.

The radicals have been condemned by Prime Minister John Howard and moderate Muslim leaders, who set up a new Muslim Reference Group after a summit in Canberra to address concerns about possible terror cells.

A key recommendation of that summit was oversight of independent Muslim schools to head off possible indoctrination of the young with militant fundamentalism.

The leaders of Australia's more than 280,000 Muslims have consistently condemned terrorism both home and abroad and have been working to reduce tensions that have followed major international outrages.

But fears of homegrown terror have increased since the London bombings, carried out by British-born Muslims, and repeated warnings by intelligence agencies that terror cells were active in Australia.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's most recent annual report warned that it continued to identify Australians who had undergone terrorist training, and had identified Australians linked to extremists abroad.

In August, federal police said they were tracking as many as 60 known terrorists within the country.

This followed allegations that radical convert Jack Roche was planning to to attack Israeli interests in Australia, and alleged French terrorist Willy Brigitte and associates in Sydney were preparing attacks.

ASIO warned that Islamic extremists in Australia tended to follow a Salafist interpretation of Islam.

This preaches hostility and isolation towards the broader Australian society, and towards countries perceived to be attacking Islam - as Australia was seen to be in Iraq.

"Despite a strong cultural sense of community, some individuals choose to lean heavily on their perceptions of conflict as a battle between Muslims and infidels," ASIO said.

"This perception engenders a sense of isolation and rejection which is difficult for moderate elements in the Australian Muslim community to counteract - and the moderates are perceived to be part of the problem by the extremists."

Abu Bakir has long been considered one of Australia's most outspoken radicals.

He raised deep anger in August after describing Osama bin Laden as a great man who had not been proven to have been involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States.

Abu Bakir, who told The Australian he had been kidnapped and beaten by two carloads of thugs after the London bombings, also said Muslims lived in a state of conflict between secular and Islamic law.

He told ABC that he supported Muslims going to Pakistan for jihad training. "Jihad is part of my religion," he said. "What you have to understand is that anyone who fights on behalf of Allah, when he dies, the first drop of blood that comes out, all his sins will be forgiven."

He also told ABC radio: "My religion doesn't tolerate other religion ... The only law to spread - here or anywhere - has to be Islam."

Sheik Leghaei has long been of interest to ASIO, reportedly being watched from the time of his arrival in Australia more than a decade ago.

ASIO twice said he was a national security threat, and questioned him on links to Iran and terror groups.

Agents found an undeclared US$10,000 ($15,000) in his luggage on his return from a trip to his homeland - a donation from the Islamic Propagation Organisation in Iran to Melbourne's Grand Prophet Centre.

Agents also found a notebook containing a handwritten translation of a book called Jihad and Islam .

The book identified three jihad targets: Infidels who did not accept the Koran as the book of heaven; those who took up arms against the Prophet; and those in Islamic states who refuse to pay tribute to Muslims.

"It is a Muslim's basic duty to wipe out the above classes," the translation said.

Sheik Leghaei's deportation order was confirmed in the Federal Court after ASIO's assessment of his risk to national security was upheld.