A radical Muslim group held a conference on Saturday afternoon discouraging members and their children from singing the Australian national anthem – while refusing to condemn ISIS.
Global Islamist political group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is campaigning for Sharia law, hired a community hall at Campsie, in Sydney’s south-west, for the event.
Yellow taped lines were placed on the carpet segregating men at the front from women at the back, with Daily Mail Australia witnessing ushers directing men to sit at the front of the auditorium.
This was despite a 2016 New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling which found Hizb ut-Tahrir’s gender segregation policies at public events were a form of unlawful sex discrimination.
The media was kicked out of a radical Muslim conference that discussed discouraging children from singing the national anthem and why ISIS shouldn’t be condemned
Yellow taped lines had been placed on the carpet segregating men at the front from women at the back
After taking a seat Daily Mail Australia was asked to leave the Orion Function Centre as about 300 Muslim men, women – all wearing either hijabs or niqabs – and children were arriving.
Asked why the media wasn’t allowed at the four-hour ‘Unapologetically Muslim’ forum, this reporter was informed it was an ‘Islamic conference’ and complied with directions to leave.
Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia live streamed the event on Facebook, featuring high school English teacher Sufyan Badar on stage interviewing Wassim Doureihi.
Global Islamist political group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which campaigns for Sharia law, hired a community hall at Campsie, in Sydney’s south-west, on Saturday afternoon
After taking a seat Daily Mail Australia was asked to leave the Orion Function Centre as about 300 Muslim men, women – all wearing either hijabs or niqabs – and children were arriving
Mr Doureihi told the audience he discouraged his children from singing Advance Australia Fair at school.
‘My kids go to a public school and every so often, I think it’s once or twice a year, whatever it is, they play the national anthem,’ he said.
‘Personally, out of respect, my kids will stand up but they won’t sing.’
Mr Doureihi, a leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia, declared the national anthem was oppressive to Muslims.
‘Should we stand up and sing along? Or should we take a position that expresses our resistance against what the national anthem represents? It’s colonialism,’ he said.
‘As Muslims we are under the spotlight and as Muslims we have to take positions on things that are not going to be comfortable.’
Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia live streamed the event on Facebook, featuring high school English teacher Sufyan Badar (left) on stage interviewing Wassim Doureihi (right)
Asked why the media wasn’t allowed at the four-hour ‘Unapologetically Muslim’ forum, this reporter was informed it was an ‘Islamic conference’ and complied with directions to leave
In another part of the conversation, Mr Doureihi laughed when Mr Badar asked him if ISIS should be condemned.
In 2014, Mr Doureihi repeatedly refused to condemn ISIS in an ABC Lateline interview.
On Saturday night, he likened denouncing the Islamic State terror group to being asked to disown paedophilia.
‘Imagine someone comes into the room and looks at us both. Looks at us both and says these two are a bunch of paedophiles,’ he said.
‘And they come up on stage and they say, “Do you condemn paedophilia?”
‘Would I actually respect that question and give a yes or a no? Why would I do that?
‘Why would I humiliate myself and accept to be framed in this way?’
Wassim Doureihi (right) told the audience his children refused to sing the national anthem and laughed on stage when asked if ISIS should be condemned
In another part of the discussion, Mr Doureihi condemned an elderly white, pro-refugee male customer at his shop who had described Sharia law Hudud punishments as ‘barbaric’, which can involve the amputation of a hand for stealing.
‘We’ve probably bought into the lie that is tolerance, diversity and multiculturalism,’ he said.
‘We’re sold the rhetoric of acceptance of diversity, and different people’s and different opinions and different religions but not realising the reality of what that entails.
‘I said, “What’s your position on the Hudud in Islam?” He goes, “barbaric”.
‘I said you’re not tolerant.’
Outside the function centre on Beamish Street, an evangelical Christian was handing out pamphlets as he wore a T-shirt with the words, ‘If you genuinely want to know more about Jesus (in your heart) ask Him and He will answer you’
The married theologian with children in his fifties told Daily Mail Australia after the event he regarded Islam as a threat to Western civilisation
Outside the function centre on Beamish Street, an evangelical Christian man was handing out pamphlets, as he wore a T-shirt with the words, ‘If you genuinely want to know more about Jesus (in your heart) ask Him and He will answer you.’
‘I know what you guys are teaching,’ he said to a Muslim man wearing an ‘Unapologetically Muslim’ T-shirt, before raising Sri Lanka’s Islamist terrorist attacks that last week killed 253 Christians.
The married theologian with children in his late fifties told Daily Mail Australia afterwards he regarded Islam as a threat to Western civilisation.
‘Once they gain a foothold they will force their ways on society,’ he said, declining to give his name.
‘Sharia law is nothing short of barbaric and is a big danger to society because it essentially means enslavement.
‘Islam is incompatible to Christian principles. Interestingly, society is heading for a collision with Islam as society is pushing PC and gender fluidity which is also incompatible with Islam.’
In early 2017, Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar, who was present on Saturday, told a forum at Bankstown, in Sydney’s south-west, that ex-Muslims, called ‘apostates’, should be killed.
‘The ruling for apostates as such in Islam is clear, that apostates attract capital punishment and we don’t shy away from that,’ he said.
The extraordinary admission was caught on camera by Daily Mail Australia and the matter was referred to the Australian Federal Police by Justice Minister Michael Keenan.
The Islamist group’s ‘Draft Constitution of the Khilafa State’, a blueprint for how its caliphate will govern if it wins power, says it will impose sharia on all its citizens, kill ex-Muslims, known as ‘apostates’, and introduce gender segregation.
The Saturday conference was held two days after Hizb ut-Tahrir announced its Australian spiritual leader Ismail al-Wahwah had been released from a Jordanian prison.
The former taxi driver from Condell Park in Sydney’s south west, was detained at Amman Airport in July 2018 while travelling in the country with his wife.
The Saturday conference was held two days after Hizb ut-Tahrir announced its Australian spiritual leader Ismail al-Wahwah had been released from a Jordanian prison
He had remained in Jordanian custody ever since. It is not known if he is now seeking to return to Australia. Daily Mail Australia understands he is a citizen so he should be able to return.
He is a controversial figure who had previously been deported from Indonesia and travelled to Syria in 2013 in support of an Islamic caliphate.
A video from March 2016, translated and shared by the Middle East Research Institute, showed him urging Muslims to restore the Islamic caliphate at a conference held in Turkey.
He called on the attendees in Ankara to pledge ‘before Allah to restore the caliphate, to raise the banner, to restore the Sharia, to unite the Islamic nation and to lead the armies of jihad that will conquer Europe and America so that the word of Allah will reign supreme’.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is active in 50 countries, seeks to replace world governments with a global caliphate ruled by Sharia law.
The group is banned in Jordan where Mr al-Wahwah was arrested, along with at least 12 other countries including the Muslim-majority nations of Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar (centre) appeared at Saturday’s conference two years after he told a forum at Bankstown, in Sydney’s south-west, that ex-Muslims, called ‘apostates’, should be killed
Attendees of the Hizb ut-Tahrir conference were told a white, male pro-refugee customer was intolerant for describing as ‘barbaric’ Sharia law hudud punishments, that can include the amputation of hands for stealing