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| Australian Senator Cory Bernardi. |
The three-day
Australian Islamic Peace Conference is billed as the "largest, the biggest
and the best-ever Islamic event in the history of Australia" and will kick
off this weekend in Melbourne.
Conference
organisers, the Islamic Research and Educational Academy, have come under fire
for inviting Saudi cleric Abdul Rahman al-Sudais. Al-Sudais has in the past
reportedly called for violent jihad and for the annihilation of Jews.
Senator Bernardi
says other speakers who have been invited to the conference are noted for their
support of Osama bin Laden.
"It's hard for
even the stoutest defender of freedom of speech to defend the poison that is
peddled by this lot," he told parliament on Tuesday, adding that a number
of speakers were extremists and preachers of hate.
A spokeswomen for
Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor said al-Sudais had not yet applied for a
visa to visit Australia. In a letter written to opposition immigration
spokesman Scott Morrison last week, Mr O'Connor said al-Sudais' character and
public statements would be given "full consideration" should he
decide to apply for a visa.
Labor backbencher
Michael Danby earlier said al-Sudais was unlikely to be granted a visa on
character grounds. "Bigotry spewed out by
Saudi extremist preacher Dr al-Sudais was un-Australian," Mr Danby said in
a statement.
Anti-Semite Abdul Rahman al-Sudais
On April 19,
2002, in his sermon Al-Aqsa Is
Crying Out For Help! Al-Sudais
called the Jews "monkeys and pigs", among other invective.
Al-Sudais
has been listed as an example of theological
anti-Semitism by the Anti-Defamation League, when he called
curses down upon Jews and labeled them “scum of the earth” in his sermons. The International Broadcasting Bureau also has reported Sudais's
antisemitism in a statement dated April 2002.
In a May
2003 interview with NBC's Tim Russert, the foreign policy
adviser to the Saudi crown prince, Adel
al-Jubeir, confirmed al-Sudais's statements, agreed that they were “clearly not
right”, and stated that he was reprimanded, but was still allowed to preach. He
also said that "if he [Sudais] had a choice he would retract these words -
he would not have said these words."
Al-Sudais
not only attacked Jews, but other non-Muslims as well, such as Hindus and Christians.
John Ware on the BBC program Panorama entitled "A Question of
Leadership" from August 21, 2005, cited Al-Sudais referring disparagingly
to Christians as “cross-worshippers” and Hindus as “idol worshippers”. Ware pointed
out the discrepancy between Sudais's sermons to Saudis with his speech to
Western audiences.
The Muslim Council of Britain questioned the veracity of quotes
given in the interview, calling them “deliberately garbled” and the program as
a whole “deeply unfair”. The Council urged caution, and while
condemning any form of anti-semitic remarks, requested verification that these
words were indeed spoken by Al-Sudais.
