Latest news with #AbuOusayd
Sky News AU
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Hate preacher Wissam Haddad ordered not to have corrective notices 'deliberately buried' on social media after breaking law
Jihadi preacher Wissam Haddad has been ordered on Thursday to 'pin' corrective notices acknowledging he had broken discrimination law at the top of his social media accounts. Earlier this month the Federal Court found the Sydney-based Islamic cleric breached 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act after a Jewish organisation sought legal action, citing inaction by Australia's 'responsible authorities'. Mr Haddad or speakers at his Al Madine Dawah Centre called Jewish people the descendants of 'pigs and monkeys' who would drown if people spat on Israel. According to The Australian, Mr Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, had attempted to evade the full extent of the court's ruling by arguing he should not be required to pin posts admitting fault online. Justice Angus Stewart on Thursday accepted expert advice that such posts should be held at the top of Mr Haddad's profile so they could not be 'deliberately buried' underneath other social media posts. 'In short, the 'pinning' and 'featuring' of the posts will prevent them from disappearing from view in a short period of time, and it will prevent them from being deliberately buried by way of successive further posts,' Justice Stewart said. 'I do not regard it as disproportionate to the nature and extent of the wrong committed to require redress of that nature.' Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said the court order was an 'essential part of counteracting the harm' his antisemitic speeches caused. 'We welcome the Federal Court's further orders requiring Mr Haddad and the Al Madinah Dawah Centre to publish a Corrective Notice on their social media pages advising viewers of the findings of unlawful conduct and orders made against them by the court, and requiring the notice to be featured and pinned on those pages,' Mr Wertheim said. 'We see this as an essential part of counteracting the harm that was caused by their online promotion and reproduction of Haddad's antisemitic speeches.' The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) won its case against Mr Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, after Justice Angus Stewart found his series of lectures called 'The Jews of Al Madina' contained remarks which were 'reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate and intimidate' Australian Jews. 'They make perverse generalisations against Jewish people as a group,' he said. 'The imputations include age-old tropes against Jewish people that are fundamentally racist and antisemitic … Jews in Australia in November 2023, and thereafter, would experience them to be harassing and intimidating.' The Islamic cleric was ordered to have three of his speeches removed from social media and to cover ECAJ's legal fees.
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Jihadi preacher Wissam Haddad issues 'chilling' warning ahead of court battle over controversial sermons
Islamic preacher Wissam Haddad has shared an ominous warning to his followers as his legal battle with Australia's biggest Jewish body gets under way. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry is suing Haddad in the Federal Court over his sermons at Al Madina Dawah Centre in Bankstown, western Sydney, which they allege breached the Racial Discrimination Act. In the wake of the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, Haddad allegedly said in his sermons that Jews were 'cowards, filthy, liars and schemers'. The case also claims he labelled Jewish people 'descendants of pigs and monkeys' and urged his followers to 'spit' on Israel. Haddad will argue that his statements were taken from religious texts like the Quran and were not likely to offend. He also contends that his sermons were performed in private and published online without his permission. The preacher, who is also known as Abu Ousayd, appeared in the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday to defend the lawsuit - and in the lead-up to the case, he shared a defiant message on social media. 'They are the one dragging us to court, so we're not going to come unarmed,' he said in the message. 'We're going to fight them with everything that we have,' he added, before an image of a sword appeared in the video. '...Isn't it about time that somebody fights back? Isn't it about time that somebody stands up to these bullies? 'And this is, Alhamdulillah, something I am personally willing to do.' Haddad also appealed to his followers for help with his legal costs in fighting the lawsuit, posting a link to a GoFundMe page which had raised almost $20,000 toward a $25,000 target on Tuesday. 'We are at a crossroads that will determine the future of Islamic expression in Australia,' the page said. '...a landmark legal case will be heard - one that could criminalise the public teaching or mention of certain Qur'anic verses and Hadiths if someone deems them 'offensive.' 'This case has far-reaching implications - not just for one individual or organisation, but for every imam, scholar, community leader, and Muslim in the country.' Haddad's use of a sword in his social media warning was encouraging his followers to join a 'physical' battle, a Jewish community source told The Australian. 'He's positioning it as an act of Islamic duty, a religious war between Muslims and Jews, which makes it even more alarming and chilling,' the source said. 'He doesn't have mainstream support in his own community, but it has the potential to incite young radicals to commit violence. It's extremely dangerous.' Sheik Ahmad Musa Jibril, a US-based radical Islamist who previously called on young people to join ISIS, has asked his followers to support Haddad's legal defence and claimed he is 'one of the most targeted men in Australia by the disbelievers'.
