Sheik slams Australia
Thursday Jan 11 18:00 AEDT
By ninemsn staff
Muslim cleric Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali branded Australians liars and excused gang ******s in an interview aired on Egyptian television this week.
The controversial religious leader also claimed in the interview that Muslims had more right to live in Australia than those descended from convicts.
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The sheik's comments come just months after he compared scantily clad women to uncovered meat and said such women should blame themselves if they were raped.
"Their values [Australia's] are upside down. They have no democracy, no freedom. They are the worst liars and unjust people," the sheik said in the Arabic-language interview.
Alhilali also defended the Muslim men convicted of Sydney's gang rapes, a position that has caused controversy in the past.
"They arranged to meet in a public park at 2 or 3 am in the morning, and it (the sex) was agreed on," he said.
Alhilali also poured scorn on Australia's convict history and seemed to suggest Muslims were in Australia long before the British settled here in 1788.
"Australia is no longer Anglo-Saxon. We've been in Australia longer than them. Islam is deep rooted in the Australian soil. Islam was here before the English fleet."
The latest controversy angered commentators, who told A Current Affair the sheik promoted bigotry and hatred within his community.
Commentator Andrew Bolt told ACA that the sheik needed to be stopped.
"For more than 20 years he's been saying things like this, and worse, and he's still the leading mufti - the leading imam in Australia - what does it say about Muslims in Australia that this man continues after all he's done to represent them," Bolt said.
"He's been protected by too many people for too long."
The sheik is overseas and unavailable for comment.
