A welcome bit of anti-dhimmitude from John Howard, but this shouldn’t even be news at all. This sort of action should be taken by non-Muslim leaders on a routine basis.
“PM bans Islamic leader ahead of conference,” from NineMSN, with thanks to Looney Tunes:
A radical Muslim sheik who was expected to speak at a major Islamic conference in Melbourne at the weekend has reportedly been banned from entering the country.
Well-known Muslim lecturer Sheik Bilal Philips was denied a visa at the last moment by the Howard Government, The Herald Sun reports.
The government is believed to have acted on advice from national security agencies that have blacklisted Philips, a Jamaica-born cleric who was linked to the 1993 bombings of the World Trade Center.
Philips, 50, who now lives in Qatar, once wrote that “Western culture, led by the United States, is the enemy of Islam.”
The US Government deported Philips in 2004 after labelling him an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the bombings that killed six people and injured 1000.
Four other foreign Islamic speakers have been granted visas to enter Australia this weekend, including Yvonne Ridley, a controversial British journalist who has described suicide bombings as “martyrdom operations”….
Sheik Philips reportedly practices a radical form of Islam that advocates marriage to pre-pubescent girls, public executions and stonings.
On his personal website, Philips has declared that “the cutting of hands and heads, stoning of people to death, and (public) lashings are only to be held on Fridays”.
Only on Fridays. How moderate.