http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21501120-661,00.html
“John Howard bans Islamic leader”
Gerard McManus
April 04, 2007 12:00am
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “EXCLUSIVE: THE Howard Government has banned a radical Muslim sheik from entering Australia to speak at a major Islamic conference in Melbourne on the weekend.
Sheik Bilal Philips, who has been linked to the 1993 World Trade Centre bombings in New York, was refused a visa at the last moment by Department of Immigration officials, sources told the Herald Sun.
It is believed the department acted on advice from national security agencies.
Vote now: Do you support PM’s ban?
Sheik Philips, 50, a Canadian citizen who lives in Qatar, once wrote: “Western culture, led by the United States, is the enemy of Islam.”
The US Government named him as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 bombings that killed six people and injured 1000. He was deported from the US in 2004.
A second speaker billed to attend the first annual Australian Islamic Conference at Melbourne University on Easter weekend has been asked to show cause why he should be allowed to enter the country.
Sources said it was unlikely that Sheik Jaafer Idris, a Saudi-based academic, would be able to provide information in time.
Four other foreign Islamic speakers have been granted visas, including controversial Briton Yvonne Ridley, who has described suicide bombings as “martyrdom operations”.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1811701/posts
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21503258-5001021,00.html
“Hicks as Democrats’ candidate”
By Nick Henderson
April 04, 2007 12:00
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “THE Australian Democrats today took the extraordinary step of saying they would welcome convicted terrorist David Hicks running for the party as a candidate.
Sandra Kanck, the Democrats’ leader in South Australia which is Hicks’ home state, said she would be happy for him to seek a political career as a Democrat.
“I certainly wouldn’t rule him out (as a candidate),” she said.
Her comments follow her ongoing criticism of the South Australian Government over the confessed supporter of terrorism.
She said Hicks should be released on home detention when he recovered from his ordeal at Guantanamo Bay.
That prompted a quick response from South Australian Premier Mike Rann.
“I mean, who knows what the Democrats will do. They will probably ask him to be a candidate,” Mr Rann said from Chile yesterday.
And Mr Rann was not wrong, with Ms Kanck responding that 31-year-old Hicks, who is due to return to Australia in the next month to serve out his jail term, could run as a candidate if he wanted.”