http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/wed/nov1w11.htm
Second Muslim cleric joins row in Australia SYDNEY (AFP) - A second Muslim cleric in Australia stepped into a bitter dispute over attitudes to women and rape Tuesday, charging that anti-Islamic bias ensured Muslim rapists got tougher sentences than other men. Sheik Mohammed Omran publicly defended a sermon in which he said Muslims were dealt with more harshly than other sex offenders such as "bikies" belonging to motorcycle gangs or "football stars". The sermon was delivered in his Melbourne mosque last Friday, the day after a storm erupted over a top cleric's description of women without Islamic headscarves as "uncovered meat" inviting sexual attack. Those remarks were made by the Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj Aldin al-Hilali, who collapsed and was rushed to hospital Monday after a firestorm of criticism and relentless pressure for his resignation. Both clerics referred in their sermons to heavy sentences meted out to a group of young Muslim men for a series of notorious gang rapes in Sydney six years ago. One of the men received a 55-year jail sentence, which was later reduced on appeal. "They make a big fuss about these kids because one of them, his name is Mohamed," Omran said in his sermon, according to a report in The Australian daily Tuesday. "Even if you kill someone, you don't go for 60 years." In an interview later with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Omran defended his remarks. "What I said in the sermon, I say it here and I'll say it wherever I am," Omran said. "We are part of the Australian society and, as an Australian - forget what I am, a cleric or not a cleric, I am an Australian - I have a view and I am free to tell the people about my view." Omran charged that judges lacked consistency in sentencing, saying that otherwise similar sentences should be passed on "the priest who rape(s) a child under his care, or the teacher who (has) a sexual relation with his student". +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
