'Perversion' driving terrorism

2005-11-09 21:21

Sydney - Modern terrorism is driven by "perverted, fanatical Islam", said Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday, a day after the arrest of 17 men on terrorism charges.

In a radio interview following Tuesday's arrests, which police said had foiled a major attack, he insisted that terrorism was not a "true representation" of Islamic faith.

"Its important to use the words perverted and fanatical," said Howard, a staunch United States ally who has sent Australian troops to US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The common thread of the contemporary terrorist threat is perverted, fanatical Islam," he said.

"Its not being prejudiced to say that, because the utterances of people involved in terrorism all go back to their conception of a jihad and their desire to have some kind of Islamic caliphate," he said.

Muslims not being targeted

Howard used a series of radio and television interviews on Wednesday to try to reassure the country's Muslim minority that they were not being targeted.

Most of the 17 Muslim men arrested in Tuesday's raids are Australian citizens, many having been born in the country, and several Islamic leaders have expressed fears that the community will face increased animosity.

An Algerian-born Islamic cleric arrested in the crackdown, Abu Bakr, also known as Abdul Nacer Benbrika, was accused of being the leader of a terrorist organisation, a charge that carries a possible 25-year jail sentence.

Eight others arrested in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, were charged with being members of a terrorist organisation while seven men arrested in Sydney were accused of plotting a terrorist attack.

Another suspect remains in hospital after being shot in the neck by police after he allegedly fired on them, and has been charged with intent to murder and an unspecified terrorism offence.

Unite against terrorism

Prosecutors said chemicals seized in raids on the men's homes were similar to those used in July's London suicide transport bombings that killed more than 50 people.

"This is not an anti-Muslim action," Howard told Channel Seven television. "This is action being taken by the police because the law has been broken."

He called on members of the Islamic community, which numbers some 300 000 out of a population of 20 million, to support the fight against terrorism.

"I say to my fellow Australians who are Muslims - you are part of our community, we value you, we want you to fully participate in Australian life.

"But we also want you to understand that people who have anti-social attitudes, people who support terrorism, are your enemies as much as they are the enemies of the rest of the Australian community."

- AFP