Saudi Arabia has launched an extraordinary attack on Australia calling its government racist for its 'sympathising' with the Christchurch mosque killer.

Abdulaziz Alwasil, Riyadh's Ambassador to the United Nations, said the country's sympathy for Muslim haters had led to the massacre of 51 people by Brenton Tarrant in March.

He launched his broadside after the Australian ambassador to the UN led a coalition of 24 nations condemning Saudi Arabia for its multiple human rights abuses.

Abdulaziz Alwasil (pictured left), Riyadh's Ambassador to the United Nations, said the country's sympathy for Muslim haters had led to the massacre of 51 people by Brenton Tarrant in March

These included the torture and detention of women's rights activists, enforced disappearances and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Alwasil hit back saying minorities, migrants and Muslims face 'horrific violations of human rights… racists and extremist policies.

'Unfortunately, these have become popular and even accepted by some western parliaments, they are even sponsored by certain governments.

'We see in some countries, radicalism against Muslims, we see xenophobia, racism. And some governments sympathise with them, like Australia. Here we refer to the massacre perpetrated by Brenton Tarrant – an Australian – which was based on hate speech'.

White supremacist Tarrant, 28, was born in Australia and moved to New Zealand just 18 months before the massacre, publishing a 74-page manifesto before his alleged rampage.

There is no evidence he was radicalised in Australia, but during his travels to Asia and Europe, particularly France where he despaired at the country's large Muslim population. He also visited historic battlefields in the Balkans.

White supremacist Tarrant, 28, was born in Australia and moved to New Zealand just 18 months before the massacre, publishing a 74-page manifesto before the rampage

He launched his broadside after the Australian ambassador to the UN Sally Mansfield (pictured left) led a coalition of 24 nations condemning Saudi Arabia for its multiple human rights abuses

When his family visited him in New Zealand before the attacks they were concerned when he showed off guns he had bought, but no alarm was raised.

In the aftermath of the killings Australia rejected as 'distasteful' claims that its counter-terrorism agencies had neglected the threat of right-wing 'extremists' such as Tarrant because they were too heavily focused on the threat from Muslim terrorists.

'These extremists groups – neo-Nazis, or white supremacists, extreme right wing groups, whatever term you want to apply to them, they've been squarely on their radar,' said Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

'They are well and truly looking at this threat, they are dealing with the threat and to think that they've just discovered it or they are coming late to the party is complete rubbish'.

Australia's Ambassador to the UN, Sally Mansfield, had delivered her address to the 47-strong United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, of which Saudi Arabia is a member.

Saudi Arabia launched an extraordinary attack on Australia calling its government (Prime Minister Scott Morrison pictured) 'racist' for being 'sympathetic' to the accused Christchurch mosque killer

In statement backed by the UK, Canada, Germany and New Zealand, she said: 'We remain deeply concerned at the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. Civil society actors in Saudi Arabia still face persecution and intimidation.

'Human rights defenders, women's rights activists, journalists and dissidents remain in detention or under threat.

'We are concerned at reports of torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, unfair trials and harassment of individuals engaged in promoting and defending human rights, their families and colleagues'.

Alwasil said Mansfield's speech was 'misleading'.

But Edwina MacDonald, legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, said: 'We applaud the Australian government for taking a principled stand and speaking up about extremely concerning human rights violations that another member of the council has been committing with impunity.'