Australian agencies greenlight charity despite Hizb ut-Tahrir links

Australian authorities have registered and given special tax status to a charity directed by a key figure within radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, who has urged Muslims to send weapons to Gaza.

The Australian Taxation Office and the charity regulator have approved and granted tax-deductible status to Al Rashidun Limited – a charity directed by Amer Alwahwah.

Alwahwah’s involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Australian chapter and the group’s promotion of antisemitic views was exposed on Sunday in a major investigation by this masthead, prompting calls for the Albanese government to consider banning the group.

Hizb ut-Tahrir activist Amer Alwahwah.

A second Australian director of the Al Rashidun charity, Ali Abu Hassan, is also linked to a social media account that has promoted controversial views online, including seemingly attacking Lebanese organisation Hezbollah for failing to more energetically join the fight against Israel. Hezbollah is banned in Australia as a terror group.

The special tax status bestowed by the Tax Office on the Al Rashidun charity in September will enable it to significantly boost its fundraising efforts. Al Rashidun, which was registered by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission last year, lists its aim as distributing aid abroad, including food relief in Gaza and Lebanon.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a controversial international Islamist group recently banned as a terror outfit in the United Kingdom and which has been campaigning for decades for the creation of an Islamic caliphate ruled by sharia or Islamic law. There is no suggestion the group’s Australian chapter is involved in terrorism, but some of its senior activists have praised the activities of Hamas after its October 7 attack in Israel and repeatedly called on Muslim soldiers in the Middle East to join the fight to eradicate Israel and help establish a caliphate.

The Al Rashidun charity is named after the Rashidun Caliphate, that existed between 632CE and 661CE.

On October 25, three weeks after Hamas attacked Israel, prompting a brutal military response in Gaza, Alwahwah appeared in a video posted by Hizb ut-Tahrir calling for weapons and armies to be deployed to the enclave.

“The people of Gaza have spoken time and time again. Up until today, there are videos of them while they are being bombarded saying: ‘We do not want your dua [prayers]. We do not want your money. We want you to mobilise. We want your arms. We want your armies to help us liberate Palestine’,” he said.

Alwahwah is a relative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia founder Ismail Alwahwah, who died in May last year after facing regular scrutiny in Australia for virulently antisemitic and anti-Western preaching.

The social media footprint of Amer’s fellow charity director, Ali Abu Hassan, reveals his mobile phone number is linked to the account of an active member of the encrypted Telegram social media platform of Ghosts of Palestine hacktivist group, an organisation involved in cyberwarfare targeting the Israeli government and which has promoted the Hamas attack of October 7.

In conversations with other members of the Telegram channel, the Abu Hassan-linked account attacked Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah for his passive stance on the war in Gaza.

“So Nasrallah at the end was all talk. Just lip service. Absolutely disgusted,” Abu Hassan wrote on November 3.

Three weeks after the Hamas attack, the Abu Hassan-linked account wrote of Israel: “My brother, they cannot defeat an enemy who looks down the barrel of the gun and sees paradise.” The account also urged the Ghosts of Palestine to promote an Australian campaign platform, Stand For Palestine, which this masthead on Sunday revealed was closely aligned with Hizb ut-Tahrir.

In a statement, the Australian charities regulator declined to comment on Al Rashidun but said all charities “must comply with Australian laws” and take steps to safeguard its funds against abuse overseas. There is no suggestion by this masthead that Al Rashidun has misused any donor funds, only that two of its four Australian directors, Alwahwah and Abu Hassan, have links to radical groups. Alwahwah and Abu Hassan both refused to answer questions when contacted by this masthead, while a third director also declined to respond.

The Sunday revelations prompted calls from the Coalition and the Zionist Federation of Australia for the Albanese government to urgently investigate the possibility of proscribing Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organisation in Australia.

“The criteria for terrorism listing is clear,” said Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson.

“On face value, Hizb ut-Tahrir has met that test and the Albanese government must urgently investigate proscription to protect Australians from violent extremism.”

Under the current legislation, the government can list an organisation as a terror group if it considers it is directly or indirectly promoting or praising the doing of a terrorist act, and there is a risk this could encourage others to engage in terrorism.

The United Kingdom controversially banned Hizb ut-Tahrir for its antisemitic stance and its calls for jihad (just war) in January. The group, which has also been banned in several Muslim-majority countries, has vowed to fight the proscription in the British courts.

In a statement on Sunday morning, Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said that Jewish community leaders had been warning about serious threats to the nation’s social cohesion and a rise in extremist rhetoric.

“For Hizb ut-Tahrir to have so much as a foothold in Australia is dangerous. But it is frankly reckless that our authorities have let it establish a sophisticated operation,” Leibler said.

“Governments must take it seriously and act decisively.”

When contacted by this masthead, a spokesperson for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus condemned Hizb ut-Tahrir’s rhetoric but declined to comment on a potential proscription.

“There is no place in Australia for such disgraceful statements,” the spokesperson said.

“We take advice from our security and intelligence agencies about whether to list organisations, but we don’t speculate publicly about that process.”

An investigation published by this masthead on Sunday uncovered a sophisticated operation by supporters of the extremist group in Australia to infiltrate the mainstream pro-Palestinian movement using the front group Stand For Palestine to recruit and spread their radical ideology, including at a student encampment at the University of Sydney.

Since the October 7 attack, Hizb ut-Tahrir has issued calls for armies from Muslim-majority countries to “ignore artificial borders” and “respond to their divine obligation” to join Hamas in its fights against Israel, and referred to the conflict in Gaza as a first step in the establishment of a global caliphate.

On Sunday, the university expressed concerns about Hizb ut-Tahrir’s presence on campus and said it had sought advice from authorities. Organisers have been told to dismantle the encampment which sprang up almost eight weeks ago.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.