Imams dispute ‘cult’s radio licence’

A Sydney radio station alleged to promote ‘fringe views’ is under fire after a rival organisation claims they were improperly awarded a radio permit from the communications watchdog.

Faten El Dana, one of Muslim Community Radio’s founding members, has repeatedly denied the Imams Council’s claims.

A Sydney radio station alleged to have links to a “radical cult” that promotes “sectarian fringe views” of Islam was improperly awarded a highly coveted radio licence, a court has heard.

The Australian National Imams Council has accused the Australian Communications Media Authority of mishandling its application process, arguing it renewed Muslim Community Radio’s licence without giving due consideration to competing applicants.

The council, whose application to replace the community radio station was rejected on the grounds of “inexperience”, claims MCR is tied to the fringe movement al-Ahbash, founded in Lebanon in the 1950s. The movement is underpinned by Sufi beliefs, an offshoot of Islam denounced by many Sunni Muslims as heretical.

The council, a Sunni-based organisation, has been a persistent critic of MCR, the operator of 2MFM, since it was first granted a radio licence in 2001, voicing opposition to the station when its licence is up for renewal every five years.

Faten El Dana, one of the station’s founding members and a long-serving program manager, has repeatedly denied the Australian National Imams Council claims, arguing that the communication watchdog’s support of the station shows it is a responsible community organisation.

Sydney silk Robert Angyal, who is representing the council in the Federal Court, said the communications watchdog showed a “lack of candour and trustworthiness” in its handling of the application process.

He said there was a “systematic attempt” to stop the council accessing MCR’s application to the watchdog, despite being entitled to view the submission with limited redactions.

The council represented a far broader spectrum of Muslims, up to 300,000 in the Sydney area, Mr Angyal said. By contrast, the MCR “was aided by a very narrow and exclusionary sect of Islam”.

Asked why the imams council could not apply for a separate licence, Mr Angyal said it was not relevant to his client’s case against the watchdog. “Your honour and I had a colloquy about the relevance of the possibility that the authority might allocate another licence to [the council], but it seems to me the way that must be viewed is (as) a background fact … and not relevant to whether my client was adversely affected by this decision to renew the licence.”

Judge Jayne Jagot will hear the final submissions on ­Wednesday.