The Block winners Omar Slaimankhel and Ozman Abu Malik’s pilgrimage controversy

Last season’s The Block winners travelled to the Middle East for Ramadan and are raising fund for orphans in Afghanistan — but one aspect of their trip has raised eyebrows.

Omar Slaimankhel and Ozman Abu Malik, last season’s controversial winners of The Block, has been living the good life after travelling to the Middle East for the Islamic celebration of Ramadan.

There, former rugby league international Slaimankhel has been raising money to buy food and much-needed supplies for young children in Afghanistan.

“The situation in Afghanistan is dire, and the vulnerable population, including the homeless, orphans, and children, are struggling to meet their basic needs,” Slaimankhel wrote on his fundraiser page, which has already raised more than $25,000.

But while his fundraising efforts are impressive, eagle-eyed watchers of his Instagram account have also spotted him hanging out with the brother of a convicted terrorist.

Slaimankhel posted photos last week alongside Noureddine Jamal, whose brother Mohammed Omar Jamal is currently serving a jail sentence of more than two decades for his efforts in a plot to blow up an unspecified Sydney landmark back in 2005.

Omar Slaimankhel (left) and Ozman Abu Malik spent Ramadan in the Middle East.

Another Jamal brother — Saleh — was also charged, and later acquitted, of the infamous shooting up of Lakemba Police Station in 1998.

While Nouraddine has no links to terrorism or crime, he has previously made headlines after posing for photos together with other big names.

Slaimankhel pictured with Noureddine Jamal in the Middle East.

Jamal with Jean-Claude van Damme in 2013. Source: Facebook

In 2016, he took a photograph with action movie star Jean-Claude van Damme at a charity function at the Star Casino.

The Hollywood star’s Australian publicist Max Markson said at the time his client had no idea about Nouraddine’s brother’s links to terrorism.

In August last year, while competing on The Block, it was revealed Slaimankhel was driving with alleged drug important Mostafa Baluch when he cut off his ankle bracelet and went on the run in 2021.

Baluch was 16 days later found hiding in a shipping container on the back of a truck at the border of Queensland and NSW.

Slaimankhel was never charged by NSW Police and there was no suggestion he was involved in any crime.

After their Block win, it was revealed that Omar and Oz were close mates with Adrian Portelli, who bid on their property on the show that sold to Danny Wallis for a record-breaking price of $5.6 million — a profit of $1.68 million.

Fellow contestants left the auction disappointed when their properties eithe failed to sell or sold for much less profit.

The result sparked baseless rumours that Portelli was a fake bidder planted to push up the price of the rural Victorian property.

The final home of that season did not sell until Valentine’s Day this year — three months after the series finale.

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