Australia: Orlando shooting: gay death cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar visa assessed

From the Australian

Conservative South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi has lashed-out at the granting of a visa to Islamic cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar, warning that a tougher approach needs to be taken to “Islamic hate preachers.”

The comments come as Malcolm Turnbull confirmed an urgent review of the visa for the Islamic cleric who arrived in Australia last Tuesday as a guest of the Imam Husain Islamic Centre in Earlwood in inner west Sydney.

The Shia cleric had spoken in March at the Husseini Islamic Centre outside Orlando in Florida in the southeast of the United States about “how to deal with phenomenon of homosexuality” just weeks before 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who pledged loyalty to Islamic State, killed 49 people and wounded a further 53 at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando – the worst mass shooting in the modern history of the United States.

Senator Bernardi today warned that Sheik Sekaleshfar had advocated violence by previously defending a punishment of death for homosexuals and pushed for broader action by government to crack-down on other Islamic groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The comments came as the Prime Minister, who is on the campaign trail in Western Australia, said he would take a tough stance towards Sheik Sekaleshfar. “We have zero tolerance for people who come to Australia to preach hatred,” Mr Turnbull said.

But Senator Bernardi was stronger in his comments, suggesting there were double standards at play given the controversy over the granting of a visa to Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has voiced strong warnings against the Islamic faith and who travelled to Australia last year for the launch of the Australian Liberty Alliance.

“We keep being told that Islam is the religion of peace and yet we continually hear about these Islamic hate preachers coming to our country whether it be the global Hizb ut-Tahrir conference or Sheik Hilali or Farrokh Sekaleshfar,” Senator Bernardi told The Australian. “There’s one thing that binds them all together – they are adherents to Islamic doctrine. When are we going to wake-up and recognise the problem within our midst?”

“(Sheik Sekaleshfar) is a person who has advocated violence. He is not welcome in this country and there’s no way in the world that we should be encouraging him or his ilk to have anything to do with Australia,” he said.

Bill Shorten said he didn’t know “how on earth that fellow got a visa,” pointing out that Sheik Sekaleshfar had talked about “killing people who are gay.”

The Opposition Leader said he was not welcome in Australia given his abhorrent views and turned up the political pressure on the government to act quickly on the issue.