Australian Islamic groups calls for revision of national terrorism laws, as sixth teenager charged

A collective statement from three peak Muslim groups in Australia has released a statement in response to Wednesday’s counterterrorism raids, calling for a revision of Australia’s terrorism laws. (ABC News: Sean Tarek Goodwin)

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.

Another teenager charged 

Five boys, aged 14 to 17, were charged on Thursday with a range of offences, including conspiring to prepare or plan for a terrorist act.

On Friday night, a sixth teenager was also charged with conspiring to engage in preparing or planning a terrorist act.

The 14-year-old has been refused bail to appear at a children’s court tomorrow.

Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett alleged on Wednesday the police operation uncovered “a network of associates and peers who … share a similar violent extremist ideology” as the alleged church attacker.

But the alliance of Islamic groups today said the raids underscored “a concerning pattern of questionable law enforcement tactics”.

Spokeswoman Ramia Abdo Sultan demanded government and law enforcement agencies commit to an immediate review of the processes leading up to the raids to ensure “transparency and accountability”.

“The lack of evidence pointing to a concrete threat or plan among these youths, as noted by senior police officials, calls into question both the necessity and the manner of these operations,” she said.

“This lack of transparency exacerbates the distress within our community.”