‘We’ve bought into the lie that is tolerance and diversity’

‘We’ve bought into the lie that is tolerance and diversity’: Inside radical Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Sydney conference – where gender segregated members heard children should not sing the national anthem

  • Radical Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir held Saturday night conference in Sydney
  • Media was banned from the ‘Unapologetically Muslim’ function centre forum
  • Speaker at Campie in city’s south-west said his kids didn’t sing national anthem
  • Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Wassim Doureihi laughed when asked to condemn ISIS
  • An evangelical Christian handed out pamphlets outside the Muslim conference

A radical Muslim group held a conference on Saturday afternoon discouraging members and their children from singing the Australian national anthem – while refusing to condemn ISIS.

Global Islamist political group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is campaigning for Sharia law, hired a community hall at Campsie, in Sydney’s south-west, for the event.

Yellow taped lines were placed on the carpet segregating men at the front from women at the back, with Daily Mail Australia witnessing ushers directing men to sit at the front of the auditorium.

This was despite a 2016 New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling which found Hizb ut-Tahrir’s gender segregation policies at public events were a form of unlawful sex discrimination.

After taking a seat Daily Mail Australia was asked to leave the Orion Function Centre as about 300 Muslim men, women – all wearing either hijabs or niqabs – and children were arriving.

Asked why the media wasn’t allowed at the four-hour ‘Unapologetically Muslim’ forum, this reporter was informed it was an ‘Islamic conference’ and complied with directions to leave.

Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia live streamed the event on Facebook, featuring high school English teacher Sufyan Badar on stage interviewing Wassim Doureihi.

Read the article by Stephen Johnson in the Daily Mail Australia.