PM condemns cleric rape claims.......
PRIME Minister John Howard today labelled comments by Australia's mufti likening immodestly dressed women to meat that attracted cats as appalling and reprehensible.
"They are quite out of touch with contemporary values in Australia," Mr Howard said while on a drought inspection tour of western New South Wales.
"The idea that women are to blame for rapes is preposterous. I not only reject the comments, I condemn them unconditionally."
Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly's comments, reportedly made in a Ramadan sermon, compared women who wore make-up and dressed immodestly to meat that attracted cats.
"If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?" the sheik said.
Mr Howard said the sheik's remarks clearly related to a "particularly appalling" rape trial in Sydney.
Asked if the sheik should resign, Mr Howard replied: "It's not for me to say what position he should hold in the Islamic faith.
"But it is for me as prime minister to say I totally reject the notion that the way in which women dress and deport themselves can in any way be used as a semblance of justification for rape."
Islamic community joins comdemnation La Di Da Di Da
The Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) has called on the cleric to resign with committee member Sherene Hassan saying she was outraged by the comments.
"Those comments are extremely offensive, and there is no basis for what he said in Islamic teachings," Ms Hassan said to AAP. "They are a paternal distortion of Islamic teachings.
"The ICV is issuing a statement calling for his resignation.
"We are calling on him to issue an apology to all Australian people, because his comments are offensive to males and females alike, and we are calling on him to retract those comments. There is no justification for rape."
Ms Hassan said she wears a hijab because of her "devotion to God".
"It's a form of identification. Men do not enter the equations. I don't do it to hide from men."
The Islamic Council of New South Wales dubbed the comments "un-Islamic, un-Australian and unacceptable".
A spokesman for the council, Mr Ali Roude, today said he was "astonished" at the comments, saying the sheik "had failed both himself and the Muslim community".
NSW Community Relations Commission chairman Stepan Kerkyasharian said that the comments could damage Islam's position in Australian society and disrupt social harmony.
Mr Kerkyasharian said he had written to Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly, asking him to retract in writing his comments quoted in The Australian newspaper today.
"They denigrate all women regardless of their religion and choice of profession. Nothing justifies rape," Mr Kerkyasharian wrote.
Comments 'taken out of context'
President of the Islamic Friendship Council of Australia, Keysar Trad, said the sheik's comments had been misrepresented, although he admitted his analogies could have been better.
"From what I understand, he was talking about the context of encouraging people to abstinence before getting married," Mr Trad said.
"His references to exposed meat etc was a very poor example that was meant to be a reference to both men and women, he wasn't talking about Islamic dress, he wasn't talking about rape."
However a former member of the Federal Government's Muslim Advisory board, Iktimal Hage-Ali, said she had listened to a recording of Sheik Hilaly's speech and believed he should be stripped of his position.
"I was just flabbergasted," she said on ABC radio.
Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward believes the comments are an incitement to crime.
"Young Muslim men who now rape women can cite this in court, can quote this man ... their leader in court," she said on Channel 9.
"It's time we stopped just saying he should apologise. It is time the Islamic community did more then say they were horrified. I think it is time he left," Ms Goward said.
Politicians condemn comments
Senior members of government were also scathing.
"Certainly I think if a religious leader in the Catholic Church or the Anglican Church or in Judaism was to make these sorts of statements, they would be getting a very severe rap over the knuckles, at the very least," Health Minister Tony Abbott said on Nine.
"He's wrong. He should be reprimanded and it's up to ordinary, decent Australians to make it clear that he is wrong."
Treasurer Peter Costello urged other Muslims to pull the sheik into line.
"I hope that the moderate Muslim leaders will speak out today and condemn these comments," he said on Channel 7.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said the sheik's comments were offensive and should be corrected by the Islamic community.
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