Why the Peak Islamic Groups Call for Revision of the Australian Terrorist Laws Should be Rejected, By Paul Walker
Peak Islamic groups, in the wake of the Sydney terrorist knife attack, have called for Australia's terrorist laws to be revised. They don't like the idea of"religiously motivated terrorism," and want this removed. The core argument is that: "The presumption that terrorism is inherently tied to religion is not only inaccurate but harmful," Ms Abdo Sultan told a press conference.
"This misconception persists despite extensive scholarly work demonstrating that terrorism is driven by political and ideological motives, not religious faith."
The assumption here is that ideological motives and religion fall into neat categories that can be distinguished, but this is not so. For example, the press conference was motivated by the charging of a sixth teenager with terrorism. The Australian carried a story about this, where one of these teenagers said: "I wanna die and I wanna kill … I'm just excited … Is your plan to get caught or die or escape?" one of the 17-year-olds wrote in a message on April 20.
The 16-year-old allegedly wrote online: "Allah is the best of planners and we are the soldiers of Allah."
What exactly is this sentiment, ideology, religion, or a mixture of both?
"An alliance of peak Islamic groups has called for Australia's terrorism laws to be changed, to remove the concept of "religiously motivated terrorism" from the legislation.
It comes as a sixth teenager, aged 15, was charged after counterterrorism raids were carried out in Sydney on Wednesday.
Five teenagers, aged 14 to 17, were previously charged with several offences and are before the courts.
In a statement, the Australian National Imams Council, the Alliance of Australian Muslims and the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network said it was necessary to "avoid simplistic attributions that target specific communities".
The group's spokeswoman Ramia Abdo Sultan said terrorism was driven by political ideology and not religion.
"The presumption that terrorism is inherently tied to religion is not only inaccurate but harmful," Ms Abdo Sultan told a press conference.
"This misconception persists despite extensive scholarly work demonstrating that terrorism is driven by political and ideological motives, not religious faith."
The alliance of Islamic groups did not take questions during the four minute press conference, telling the assembled media that they could submit questions by email.
Ms Abdo Sultan also singled out ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess and said the use of racial and religious profiling and the failure of law enforcement agencies to consult with the Muslim community further undermined social cohesion.
"The use of charged language such as "religiously motivated Sunni violent extremism" by the Director-General of ASIO Mike Burgess, particularly during sensitive times ... fuels Islamophobia and further marginalises the Muslim community," she said.
"This approach undermines social cohesion and perpetuates the stigmatisation of an entire religious group based on the actions of a few."
Mr Burgess said "Sunni violent extremism poses the greatest religiously motivated violent extremist threat in Australia", in the ASIO Annual Threat Assessment on February 28.
A spokesperson for ASIO said the overarching descriptors of "ideologically motivated violent extremism" and "religiously motivated violent extremism" allowed accurate categorisation of security threats on the basis of their primary driver.
"ASIO's subject matter experts have an extensive and detailed understanding of threats, and they concluded that individuals or groups who support violence to oppose or achieve a specific social, political or legal outcome based on a religious interpretation can appropriately and accurately be described as "religiously motivated", they said in a statement.
"As the Director-General has consistently stated, ASIO does not investigate people because of their religious views – ASIO is concerned with actual or potential violence."
New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns, has rejected the call for terrorism laws to be revised.
He said it was important for police to understand the nature of the crimes they were dealing with.
"The truth of the matter is in some instances, and it is only some instances where there are terrorist activities they are as a result of religious-based extremism," Mr Minns said.
"Now that is not the only form of terrorism in the state, there are other designations that apply, but I am not going to make a major change in relation to that."
Mr Minns said some terrorism can be religiously motivated.
"We do need to confront religious extremism. Some of it manifests itself in terrorism and it is important there is a comprehensive police and security response."
'Transparency and accountability'The alliance of Islamic groups made the call in the wake of the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Assyrian Orthodox Christ The Good Shepherd Church at Wakeley, in Sydney's south west, on April 15.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested at the church and charged with committing a terrorist act over the stabbing.
On Wednesday, about 400 officers from the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team (JCTT) raided 13 addresses across Sydney in connection with the stabbing, arresting seven young people and questioning a further five."
"Members of an alleged youth terror cell in western Sydney reportedly wanted to target Jews, were ready to "die" for their cause, and called themselves "soldiers of Allah" in a series of text messages.
Sydney's Jewish leaders were on alert on Sunday night after revelations the alleged teenage terrorists arrested in a mass raid had been planning to target their community.
A police fact sheet tendered to court at the weekend says the teens started their plot after the stabbing of an Ayssrian bishop by one of their alleged associates, and that they planned to buy guns and store them in abandoned homes.
One alleged jihadi also wrote that he wanted to target Jews.
The Australian has previously revealed one of them had been following a Hamas supporter on social media.
"I really want to target the yahood (Jewish people) … we will plan it," one 15-year-old allegedly sent to a group chat titled "Plans" on April 19, four days after the Wakeley stabbing incident.
The Australian understands Jewish leaders found out about the teens' focus on their community only when reports emerged of the fact sheet on Sunday night. NSW Board of Deputies president David Ossip said he hoped to receive more information from the police and the relevant ministers. "These are obviously very troubling reports and we look forward to receiving further information from the relevant authorities," he said.
The four alleged terrorist youths were arrested in sweeping anti-terror raids last Wednesday following a possible terrorism incident at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, western Sydney, where a 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbed four people.
The four teenagers used end-to-end encryption platform Signal to allegedly discuss obtaining guns and committing jihad, the Daily Telegraph reported, quoting a police fact sheet tendered to court.
The four are teenage boys aged 15, 16, and two aged 17.
The 15-year-old also allegedly sent a message after the Wakeley stabbings that "I know the bloke who done it he's my mate", the Daily Telegraph reported.
"I wanna die and I wanna kill … I'm just excited … Is your plan to get caught or die or escape?" one of the 17-year-olds wrote in a message on April 20.
The 16-year-old allegedly wrote online: "Allah is the best of planners and we are the soldiers of Allah."
It was previously reported that seven teenagers arrested in Joint Counter Terrorism Team raids had been connected to the 16-year-old accused of stabbing four in the Wakeley stabbings through an encrypted group chat and that they shared a "violent extremist ideology".
The Australian has previously revealed that the 16-year-old appeared to idolise 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and his Muslim community leaders and peers had grown increasingly concerned with his "extreme religious views".
That 16-year-old has been charged with committing a terrorist act under federal law and faces a maximum of life imprisonment. He has not yet submitted a plea.
The latest update from NSW police was that six teenagers, aged between 14 and 17, have been charged in the JCTT's investigation into associates of that 16-year-old who allegedly stabbed four at the Wakeley church.
A 14-year-old and a 17-year-old have been charged with possessing or controlling violent extremist material obtained or accessed using a carriage service.
Two 16-year-olds have been charged with conspiring to engage in an act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act."
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