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| Dee Why Mosque on Dee Why's South Creek Road. |
Ahmed Alkahly, a 59-year-old Egyptian national who is a well-known qari, or prayer reciter, in his homeland, is visiting Sydney to lead evening prayers at the Dee Why Masjid (mosque) for the month of Ramadan.
Police will allege that, in two separate incidents on Wednesday afternoon, he approached a 16-year-old girl and a 57-year-old grandmother, who was pushing her grandson in a pram, and indecently assaulted them by touching their breasts along Dee Why Beach.
Both victims called the police. Mr Alkahly was found nearby minutes later and arrested.
Police will allege he also approached a 16-year-old girl in a reserve in Dee Why on Monday afternoon and touched her breasts. "They're certainly distressed by the incident," Inspector Craig Wonders said of the three victims.
However, Mr Alkahly's Sydney-based son said the incidents were the result of a misunderstanding and his father, who does not speak English, is so embarrassed and distressed by his subsequent arrest that he has almost suffered a nervous breakdown.
He said the incidents arose when people on the beach asked to have their photos taken with his father, who was wearing exotic Egyptian Islamic dress. Mr Alkahly also came into contact with one of the women because her dog started barking and gnarling at him, he said.
"I'm so depressed, I can't talk," said the son.
A spokesman for Dee Why Masjid, Usamah Alamudi, said Mr Alkahly was simply showing "love and compassion" and it was common for visitors to misunderstand the cultural differences between Australia and Egypt.
"He's very distressed. He's been crying," Mr Alamudi said. "He's a good man." He said the accused denied the allegations and said he only "embraced kids". The mosque also released a short statement on its website urging people to stop sending abusive emails.
"In relation to recent alleged assault charges against a temporary visitor connected to Dee Why Mosque, we would like to inform the public that he is NOT the imam of Dee Why Mosque nor he is directly employed by us," the statement said.
"Please refrain from sending abusive emails to Dee Why Mosque's imam as he has nothing to do with this. The Islamic Society of Manly Warringah's committee will issue an official statement later today on this website."
Mr Alkahly is one of several qaris or prayer reciters sent to Australia for Ramadan by the Egyptian government. The Australian Foundation of Islamic Councils assists in distributing them to mosques around Sydney where they sing the evening prayers.
An AFIC spokesman said it provided a letter of support for the man's one-month working visa but simply acted as a facilitator for the mosque. "Different organisations approach us to provide a cantor and they can nominate their own," he said. "We have no interaction with the individuals."
Mr Alkahly was planning on leaving Australia on August 9 but will have to face North Sydney Local Court on Monday on three counts of indecent assault.
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| Now infamous Dee Why Mosque in Sydney Northern Beaches. |
THE managers of a mosque where a muslim prayer leader was charged with allegedly touching the breasts of two teenagers and a grandmother say they are "shocked" by the allegations.
The 59-year-old Egyptian national, Ahmed Alkahly, who is visiting a Northern Beaches mosque for the period of Ramadan, was charged last night after he allegedly indecently assaulted three separate women.
We just can't believe it," a spokesman for the Islamic Society of Manly-Warringah, which runs the Dee Why Masjid Mosque where Alkahly was working as a guest prayer leader said. "We're shocked, absolutely shocked."
The spokesman said Alkahly had been sent as part of a larger delegation from Egypt. "The Egyptian government sent him," he said. "He was part of a large group."
"The Australian Federation of Islamic Council received them and decide who went where. Some mosques got two or three, some one or two, Dee Why got one."
He said Alkahly was in Australia on a tourist visa and was making guest appearances as a prayer leader for the special night meetings around Ramadan and had denied the allegations against him.
"I don't know how much to say because he denies the allegation," he said.
The events have distressed members of the Northern Beaches mosque with a statement on the group's official website claiming the imam had received abusive emails. "We would like to inform the public that he is NOT the imam of Dee Why Mosque nor he is directly employed by us," the statement reads.
"Please refrain from sending abusive emails to Dee Why Mosque's imam as he has nothing to do with this." Police said a 16-year-old girl was approached by a man and allegedly indecently assaulted as she walked through a reserve in Dee Why on Monday.
Then yesterday, a 57-year-old woman and another 16-year-old girl were both allegedly indecently assaulted by a man on Dee Why Beach. Detectives from Northern Beaches Local Area Command were alerted and commenced an investigation into the incidents.
Following inquiries, detectives arrested the 59-year-old Egyptian National in Dee Why late yesterday. He was taken to Dee Why Police Station where he was charged with three counts of indecent assault and was given bail to appear at North Sydney Local Court on 5 August 2013.
Dee Why locals said the man had been seen on the beach approaching people and shaking their hands.
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| Dee Why Mosque is only few minutes walk away from the popular Dee Why Beach in Sydney. |
A visiting Muslim prayer leader who groped two teenagers and a grandmother on the northern beaches is facing fresh allegations of indecent assaulting two other women.
However, police revealed in North Sydney Local Court on Monday that they are investigating complaints from two other women who claim they were indecently assaulted by the 59-year-old sheikh.
El-Kahly has pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl in a Dee Why reserve last Monday and a 16-year-old girl and 57-year-old woman on Dee Why beach last Wednesday.
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| Clash of civilization is happening right now on the Dee Why beach as more backward Muslims move into Northern Beaches. |
The first assault took place when he approached two teenage girls as they walked a dog in James Meehan Reserve on Monday afternoon. He told them he was visiting from Egypt for a week and asked to shake their hands.
He refused to let go of one of the girl's hands then moved his hand onto her shoulder and "swept the back of his hands across both of the victim's breasts", police documents state.
Two days later, he approached another 16-year-old on the concourse of Dee Why beach and grabbed her hand, kissing it several times while saying "I like you".
The victim attempted to pull her hand away using "considerable force". An hour later, he approached a 57-year-old woman as she pushed her four-month-old grandson in a pram on the same concourse and asked to take a photo of the boy.
The grandmother said "no" and tried to move away but El-Kahly grabbed her hands and started kissing them saying "I love you, I love you". He then grabbed her left breast and squeezed it.
Despite pleading guilty to the offences, El-Kahly told Fairfax Media that the assaults were the result of a cultural misunderstanding. Through a spokesman for Dee Why Masjid, Usamah Alamudi, El-Kahly said he denied the allegations and only "embraced kids".
Mr Alamudi said: "As someone coming from Indonesian background, we also embrace kids 'excessively' and only once we are in Australia that we realise it can be considered as invasion of privacy or sexual abuse."
Last week, El-Kahly's son, who lives in Sydney, told Fairfax Media the incidents were the result of a misunderstanding and his father, who does not speak English, was so embarrassed and distressed by his subsequent arrest that he had almost suffered a nervous breakdown.
He said the incidents arose when people on the beach asked to have their photos taken with his father, who was wearing exotic Egyptian Islamic dress.
In North Sydney Court on Monday, El-Kahly nervously clutched some prayer beads and put his face in his hands as his solicitor, Rick Mitry, entered guilty pleas and asked a magistrate to sentence El-Kahly immediately so he could return to Egypt on Friday.
Magistrate Michael Barbour denied the request, saying he would require a pre-sentencing report to determine the seriousness of the charges, which may take several days. "There's a number of issues that arise that need to be assessed for this particular matter," he said.
Police also revealed that they were investigating a further two allegations and expected to lay charges as soon as Monday afternoon which would further hold up El-Kahly's bid to be sentenced swiftly.
Outside court, Mr Mitry said his client, who works as a university scholar and is a well-known prayer reciter or "qari" in Egypt, was highly distressed and needed to return to Egypt on Friday to avoid losing the cost of his air fare.
El-Kahly is one of several qaris the Egyptian government sent to Australia for Ramadan, whom the Australian Foundation of Islamic Councils distributed to mosques around Sydney. El-Kahly will return to court on September 16 to be sentenced.
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| Egyptian Imam from Dee Why Mosque leaving the North Sydney Criminal Court. |
This is a cultural misunderstanding. In Australian culture, molesting women is wrong. In Egyptian Muslim culture, it’s the expected thing to do.
A Muslim prayer leader charged with touching the breasts of two teenagers and a grandmother on the northern beaches believes he is the victim of a misunderstanding.
I’m pretty sure he’s not the victim here.
Ahmed Alkahly, a 59-year-old Egyptian national who is a well-known qari, or prayer reciter, in his homeland, is visiting Sydney to lead evening prayers at the Dee Why Masjid mosque for the month of Ramadan.
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| De Why Mosque Leader and Groper Ahmed Alkahly. |
Both victims called the police. Mr Alkahly was found nearby minutes later and arrested.
Police will allege he also approached a 16-year-old girl in a reserve in Dee Why on Monday afternoon and touched her breasts.
“They’re certainly distressed by the incident,” Inspector Craig Wonders said of the three victims.
But wait. There’s a reasonable explanation for this.
However, Mr Alkahly’s Sydney-based son said the incidents were the result of a misunderstanding and his father, who does not speak English, is so embarrassed and distressed by his subsequent arrest that he has almost suffered a nervous breakdown.
What does English have to do with anything? In what conceivable set of circumstances could his poor English skills have led him to repeatedly, but unintentionally, molest teenage girls?
Sure. It’s a misunderstanding. He didn’t understand that in Australia, women are considered human beings and have legal rights. In Dubai, he would have been set free and the 16-year-old girls would have been charged with adultery.
He said the incidents arose when people on the beach asked to have their photos taken with his father, who was wearing exotic Egyptian Islamic dress.
So naturally he tried to give them the full authentic Egyptian Islamic experience.
Mr Alkahly also came into contact with one of the women because her dog started barking and gnarling at him, he
Again, how could one thing possibly lead to the other? Maybe in Egypt, such a chain of events could make some kind of sense.
A spokesman for Dee Why Mosque, Usamah Alamudi, said Mr Alkahly was simply showing ‘‘love and compassion’’ but had misunderstood the cultural differences between Australia and Egypt.
Perhaps his kind of “love and compassion” should stay in Egypt. Along with him.
Mr Alkahly is one of several qaris or prayer reciters sent to Australia for Ramadan by the Egyptian government.
Australia should thank Egypt's Muslim
Brotherhood’s PM Morsi for dispatching one of its finest sexual predators to
educate Australians about their customs and beliefs.
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| Egyptian mob brutally groping AFP journalist Caroline Sinz at Cairo's Tahir Square in 2011. (She was violently groped and digitally raped by Egyptian Muslims.) |