DAR AL HARB - AUSTRALIA: WE WON'T OUTLAW HIZB-U-TAHRIR, THERE IS JUST NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE

Ruddock: no ban on Muslim group

The Federal Government refuses to ban a radical Muslim group that has sparked outrage by bringing to Australia its calls for an Islamic superstate.

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Dr Yusanto and fellow members of the extremist group Hizb-u-Tahrir believe it can ease suffering around the world by creating an Islamic superstate - ruled by Sharia law - through jihad, or holy war.

The NSW government and federal opposition are outraged, demanding the Commonwealth follow Britain, Germany and several Middle Eastern countries in banning the group.

But Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said today there was not enough evidence to justify using anti-terrorism laws to outlaw Hizb-u-Tahrir.

To be proscribed as a terrorist organisation, a group has to urge the use of force or violence.

"Evidence to sustain that has to be available," he told reporters."

Just because people have messages that I don't regard as broadly in keeping with Australian values doesn't mean they can be proscribed as terrorist organisations," Mr Ruddock told reporters.

Hizb-u-Tahrir spokesman Wassim Doureihi defended the group, saying it was only advocating change through peaceful means in the Muslim world, not in Australia.

"We do not engage in physical violence, we are not advocating terrorism," he told reporters.

"We are advocating peaceful political change within the Muslim world."

But his message appeared at odds with Dr Yusanto's comments advocating jihad during the Lakemba meeting.

Dr Yusanto said if the utopian superstate fell, "all military-aged Muslims" and "Muslims living outside of the boundary" of the Sharia state should obtain military training and "join the jihad".

"Once successful, the new order would be just the beginning of the new era in the application of Islamic ideology," he said.

"There is no victory and glory without sacrifice and hard work. No pain no gain."

NSW Premier Morris Iemma said he believed the group should never have been allowed to meet in Australia.

"This is not a case of someone being different, someone advocating a different point of view," he told Sky News.

"This is an organisation that is basically saying that it wants to declare war on Australia, our values and our people. That's the big difference."

"And that's why I believe that they are just beyond the pale, enough is enough and it's time for the Commonwealth to review this organisation's status and take the lead from other countries and ban them."

Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke called on newly appointed Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to consider cancelling Dr Yusanto's visa.

"There are clear character provisions in the Immigration Act that mean that if the government didn't want Ismail Yusanto here it could have stopped him from coming," he told reporters.

"The only reason we have someone in western Sydney right now preaching Sharia law is because the federal government chose to allow him to be here."

"My question and my comment to anyone from around the world who hates Australia is simple - if you hate the place, don't come here."

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Pertinent Links:

1) Ruddock: no ban on Muslim group