A PAKISTANI imam arrested after performing a “marriage” ­between a 12-year-old girl and a 26-year-old man has been spared jail and slapped with just a $500 fine.

Muhammad Riaz Tasawar appeared at Parramatta Local Court last month, where he pleaded guilty to solemnising the marriage, an offence which carries up to six months in jail.

media_camera Imam Riaz Tasawar pleaded guilty to performing a ‘marriage’ between a 12-year-old girl to the 26 year old man. Source: Youtube

The sentence drew condemnation from Federal Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and Christian Democratic Party leader Reverend Fred Nile, who urged Islamic leaders to highlight Australian law when it came to marriage.

“It makes me angry,” Reverend Nile said. “They all know the rules here in Australia and there is no excuse. It’s time for the religious leaders in the Muslim community to give ­instructions to follow Australian law regarding marriage.”

Tasawar was sacked from the mosque which sponsored him on a religious leader visa and is being held at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre. He is likely to be deported.

The 35-year-old was ­arrested after performing the “marriage” in the the girl’s family home in the Hunter ­region on January 12.

Tasawar had been the resident imam of a mosque in the region for the past four years but Islamic leaders said he conducted the marriage sec-retly, without telling the mosque’s governing body, the Islamic Centre of Newcastle.

media_camera Imam fined for ‘marriage’ of girl, 12

In a fact sheet tendered to court, police said “the offence has serious risks and repercussions to the persons involved in the marriage ceremony and also the wider Islamic ­community”.

Tasawar is the first person in NSW to be charged with solemnisation of a marriage by an unauthorised person.

The offence carries a maximum penalty of a $500 fine or six months’ jail. However, ­Tasawar escaped a jail term when sentenced by Magistrate Peter Miszalski on March 19.

The “husband”, a Lebanese national who is facing 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a child, was granted bail on March 4, despite telling authorities that he was keen to see his wife again and believed he had done nothing wrong.

An outraged Rev Nile ­described the fine as a “slap on the wrist”.

“It should be far greater than that,” he said. “I’ve been following this case and that’s a trifling fine.”

Federal Immigration Minister Scott Morrison also ­empathised with those upset by the sentence: “I can understand why many Australians would be disappointed with the soft penalty imposed by the court.”