Rita Panahi: Violent sequel to too-soft justice
THE Brighton siege was the perfect storm of permissive attitudes to Islamist sentiment, lenient sentencing, lax parole laws and victimhood culture, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rita Panahi. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE Brighton siege was the perfect storm of permissive attitudes to Islamist sentiment, lenient sentencing, lax parole laws and victimhood culture.
FRIENDS SAY TERRORIST TURNED OVER A NEW LEAF
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN WOMAN KILLED IN LONDON BRIDGE TERROR ATTACK
Gunman Yacqub Khayre had proved himself to be a man capable of extreme violence and one who wished harm upon Australia and yet he was freed again and again until he died in a hail of bullets on Monday evening.
Why was this violent, radicalised thug free to kill an innocent man, take a woman hostage and shoot at police officers, injuring three, given his shameful history of violence and criminality?
Khayre received lenient sentences and “second chances” from a justice system that puts the rights and supposed rehabilitation prospects of repeat offenders ahead of the community’s safety.
In many ways the tragedy mirrors the Lindt café siege.
In both instances the terrorists were the beneficiaries of
Australia’s generous refugee program but turned on the country that offered them asylum.
Man Haron Monis was an Iranian refugee who converted from Shia to Sunni Islam before taking hostages at Martin Place’s Lindt café in December, 2014 while Khayre was a Somalian refugee who came here as child.
Both men had committed a series of serious offences unrelated to terror that should’ve seen them behind bars for lengthy sentences. Monis was out on bail, Khayre was recently paroled.
Neither had been found guilty of terror offences but both had showed a history of treachery and Islamist leanings, yet both were rated as “low risk” by anti-terror authorities.
Monis harassed the families of slain Australian soldiers comparing the fallen ANZACs to “dirty animals” and “pigs”.
Khayre was accused and acquitted of involvement in a plot to attack the Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney in 2009.
Three of his co-accused were found guilty and in 2011 received lengthy jail terms in the Victorian Supreme Court.
During the trial the court heard that Khayre had travelled to Somalia to train with extremist group al-Shabaab and sought blessings for a fatwa that “would have assisted the group to commit an act”.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.
“The attack in Melbourne, Australia was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State in response to the call for targeting the subjects of the coalition states,” the group’s Amaq news agency said.
Many in the media were quick to dismiss any connection to IS and even chief commissioner Graham Ashton was initially flippant about any link saying “they always tend to jump up and claim responsibility every time something happens”.
But that is not only a foolish assumption but one that is not necessarily supported by fact.
It is true that Khayre mentioned both al Qaeda and Islamic State on Monday but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t motivated by the terror group’s call for action which specifically mentioned Australia.
The same disbelief occurred with Monis with Islamist apologists determined to deny that the siege was an act of terror or had anything to do with radical Islam.
On the day of the siege there were some gleefully pointing out that the black flag held up by hostages wasn’t that of IS as if that proved that the horror we were seeing on our TV screens wasn’t really an act of terror.
But the reality is that Monis took the wrong flag and subsequently demanded IS flags be delivered as the siege unfolded.
It is a mistake to believe these terrorist thugs are geniuses.
The truth is that attacks by followers of IS are often as chaotic as what we saw in Brighton.
It is too soon to know if Khayre was motivated by IS, al Qaeda or something completely unrelated to terror.
Dismissing links without understanding the way the terror group operates is foolish in the extreme.
A “lone wolf” waging jihad is precisely what IS demands of its “soldiers” in the West.
IS released a statement not long before Numan Haider launched a knife attack against two counter-terrorism officers in Endeavour Hills in 2014.
In it Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, IS leader and official spokesman, told supporters to target “coalition countries” including Australia who had waged war against the group:
“Do not ask for anyone’s advice and do not seek anyone’s verdict … Kill the disbeliever whether he is civilian or military, for they have the same ruling. Both of them are disbelievers.”
Last year there was another communication from the terror group with explicit calls for attacks on Australian soil to be carried out by the “lions of the Ummah (Islamic community) and those living in Australia in particular”.
“Kill them on the streets of Brunswick, Broadmeadows, Bankstown and Bondi, kill them at the MCG, the SCG, the Opera House, and even in their backyards. Stab them, shoot them, poison them and run them down with your vehicles.”
Melbourne was condemned as a “a land cloaked in darkness and corrupted by kufr (unbelief), fornication and all forms of vice”.
And in recent weeks the terror group again called for its followers to use any means possible to wage jihad against the unbelievers: “Your targeting of the so-called innocents and civilians is beloved by us and the most effective, so go forth and may you get a great reward or martyrdom in Ramadan.”
The jihadi deniers among us are adept at diminishing the incidence of Islamist violence in the Middle East, Africa and increasingly in the West and they remain determined to bury their heads in the sand as terror rears its ugly head much closer to home.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
Human cost of pandemic goes much further than virus
Whether you are pro or anti-lockdown the grim, unintended consequences of the fixation on coronavirus are undeniable, as other diseases — including cancer and heart disease — go unchecked, and despair from joblessness, poverty and financial stress rises, writes Rita Panahi.
Will buck really stop with Dan after disastrous decisions?
While Daniel Andrews repeats the “we’re all in this together” mantra, the reality is only the private sector is making huge financial sacrifices as he refuses to face up to scrutiny over the hotel quarantine fiasco and contact tracing chaos, writes Rita Panahi.