Islamic Council of Victoria’s president tells anti-racism forum proposed laws to allow the immigration minister to revoke citizenship were aimed at Muslims

Australian Muslims are living in trauma because they had been singled out for political purposes, a leading Islamic leader said on Sunday.



The president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Ghaith Krayem, told an anti-racism forum in Melbourne that the federal government’s plans to allow the immigration minister to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals found to join or support terrorist groups “would make criminals of people based on suspicion and suspicion alone”.

He said it was clearly aimed at Muslims, as two people fighting with Kurds against Islamic State had returned to Australia without charge.

“But the moment a Muslim says ‘I want to come home’, what does our prime minister do? If you come home, you’ll be arrested, and the full force of the law will be applied.

“Let’s be honest. Let’s not be ostriches. Those laws are designed and they are going to apply to our community our community alone.”

Krayem said the intention to strip dual nationals of citizenship without a court process – and the debate within the government over the suggestion that sole nationals may also lose their citizenship if there is another country to which they can apply – would be based on the minister’s discretion. There would be limited review, and the person would not have the right to know the intelligence provided to the minister.

The forum was attended by about 300 people of diverse backgrounds and revealed the depth of feeling within the Muslim community about what many saw were unnecessary laws and rhetoric that gave ammunition to extreme groups such as Reclaim Australia and the United Patriots Front. That group held a rally in Richmond at the same time as the forum, with speakers decrying halal certification and Sharia law.

“The Muslim community is a community under siege,” Krayem said, pointing out the small amount of money given to social programs within the Muslim community compared with the $1.2bn boost in funding for intelligence agencies and law enforcement in the May budget. “It’s a community in trauma.”

Rob Stary, a criminal lawyer who has defended several people accused of terrorism offences, said that since the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington in 2001, Australia had passed more than 50 terror-related laws and spent more than $30bn on the “war on terror”. He said the result had been a polarisation of the community as the government used the fear of terrorism to pursue wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

“What we are seeing is a sophisticated and coordinated pattern and attack on the Islamic community … to ensure there is no dissent, no examination of our role in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.”

Many speakers and members of the audience spoke of the everyday difficulty of living as a Muslim, particularly for women who wore the hijab. Others were wary of leftwing groups using the issue to discuss a broader social justice agenda.

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“Racism comes from the progressive left as much as the conservative right,” academic Yassir Morsi said.

Others spoke of the fear that Muslims had about speaking out strongly against laws they saw as unfair and about community disquiet over heavy-handed police raids.

The meeting discussed plans to counter Reclaim Australia rallies planned for July.