THE fringe Islamic group that advocated for the rights of men to hit their wives has struck out at moderate Muslims who condemn domestic violence.

Extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir has called on Australian Muslims not to “participate in apologetic appeals” and to stand by teaching it says permit “discipline” in a marriage.

The group is supporting a video that last week received condemnation from Muslim leaders, Australian politicians and media critics alike, after it showed two women from Hizb ut-Tahrir’s women’s arm discussing when and how a man should strike a woman.

In a statement responding to the “media beat up” and politicians “lining up to take the moral high ground” over the video, the group’s media representative Hamzah Qureshi said the reaction was about Islam itself, and took aim at Muslims who had distanced themselves from the clip’s shocking message.

“When the media accuses Muslims of something, we must not take the bait and participate in apologetic appeals that seek to distance ourselves from the accusation, since that only serves to validate a connection that has been deliberately constructed to begin with,” he said.

In his statement, Mr Qureshi inferred that members of the Muslim community who had condemned the clip and its associated messages had betrayed their peers.

“The very first thing that we must not do is accept the line of blame and we particularly must not turn on each other,” he said.

“Internal Muslim community disagreements should be discussed internally on Islamic terms — not as a show for public consumption.”

Muslim community leaders stressed the Hizb ut-Tahrir was a fringe group and its views were not representative of mainstream Muslims in Australia.

The group’s latest outburst comes as former prime minister Tony Abbott on Monday called on the Human Rights Commission to do more to help stop violence against women being condoned by radical Islamist groups in Australia.

Mr Abbott says the commissioner needs to be “all over” groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir — which is banned in other countries — to stop women being “monstered” by men.

“Why isn’t the Human Rights Commission all over Hiz ut-Tahrir for denying the human rights of women by appearing to condone wife beating?” he asked 2GB’s Ray Hadley.

“If the Human Rights Commission is to justify the $50 million a year that taxpayers spend on it, let’s get them on to Hizb ut-Tahrir and some of these other extremist Islamist organisations.

What about inviting Muslim women who have been monstered by their husbands or boyfriends to get on to the Human Rights Commission so that these people can be properly brought to book?”

Mr Abbott said the radical Islamist group was still legal in Australia because it had always managed to keep itself “just within the law”.