OTTAWA — The imam of a Montreal-area mosque that Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau visited in early September spoke favourably in 2011 about severing the hands of thieves and stoning women.

Imam Foudil Selmoune told a Radio-Canada journalist that under Sharia law, those harsh punishments are part of God's rules for Muslims to live in a "peaceful and just society."

"We don't cut hands off just anyone," he said. "We cut the hands of people who have money and who steal."

He also said "stoning exists in Sharia."

"But we have to ask why did God make these laws? It's to create a society that is healthy, pure and balanced."

Selmoune is still listed on the mosque's website as its imam.

Trudeau's visit was part of a campaign-style tour of Montreal's south shore that raised the ire of the Tories.

They previously criticized Trudeau after learning the Islamic centre gave more than $11,000 to a charity called IRFAN-Canada, which the government listed as a terrorist entity this year.

The chairman of the mosque's board, Usman Shaikh, said the mosque donated the cash in 2009 before Canada revoked IRFAN's charitable status and labelled it a terrorist entity.

Trudeau's spokesman Kate Purchase told QMI Agency that the party "believe(s) it's important to reach out to as many Canadians as possible, of all faiths. The onus is on the prime minister and his public safety minister to provide parliamentarians with a list of places that are unsuitable to go."

On Wednesday, the Tories went back on the attack.

Jean-Christophe De Le Rue, spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, said Trudeau showed an "appalling lack of judgment" for visiting the mosque and giving legitimacy to the imam's comments.

Calls to the mosque weren't returned and Shaikh told QMI Agency he could only talk next week.