An Islamic website regarded as a credible source for al-Qa’ida information has canvassed the possibility of Australia — which it says “persecutes” Muslims — becoming an Islamic state.

Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna yesterday said radical Islamic websites had tried to recruit Muslim Australians to a jihad over thepast five years.

Professor Gunaratna said more than 1000 jihad websites were registered worldwide, many going unmonitored, allowing terrorists to recruit free from scrutiny. “Some of those websites have been playing a role in politicising, radicalising and mobilising the Australianmigrant communities and people have joined these groups from accessing their websites,” he said.

THE internet is becoming a virtual forum for radical Islamic exchanges, with many sites specifically targeting Australia to recruit followers and plan terrorist attacks.

An Islamic website regarded as a credible source for al-Qa’ida information has canvassed the possibility of Australia — which it says “persecutes” Muslims — becoming an Islamic state.

Islammemo.com is among the websites causing increasing concern to Australian and Indonesian authorities, who fear terrorists are using web traffic to sell their cause and disseminate information, including coded messages.

Indonesia is investigating the sources of a number of sites, but is finding it difficult to close them down.

The oldest and most famous of the fundamentalist sites, Azzam Publications, hosted at islamicawakening.com, has already been removed from various US, Canadian and southeast Asian servers.

The site, named after a mentor of Osama bin Laden, mentions Australia in the context of bin Laden’s mid-November threats of further attacks.

Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna yesterday said radical Islamic websites had tried to recruit Muslim Australians to a jihad over thepast five years.

Professor Gunaratna said more than 1000 jihad websites were registered worldwide, many going unmonitored, allowing terrorists to recruit free from scrutiny. “Some of those websites have been playing a role in politicising, radicalising and mobilising the Australianmigrant communities and people have joined these groups from accessing their websites,” he said.

He also claimed some people running such websites in Australia have developed relationships with terrorists and terrorist networks overseas.

“Australia has been tolerating the establishment of these radical websites, they haven’t even questioned these people.”

Since sending troops into Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, Australia has been mentioned in the same sentences as theUS and Israel on the Islamist and jihad sites.

On islammemo.com, the story suggesting Australia will become a Muslim state says there are already more than 100 mosques and 30 Islamic schools in Australia.

It says the numbers indicate Australia, “which is persecuting and fighting Islam and Muslims who live on its land, will one day become a state with a majority Muslim population”.

Taliban Online, now hosted at muslimthai.com/talibanonline, has called for Muslims worldwide to send a message of support to thefamily of David Hicks, the Australian Taliban held by the US.

A spokeswoman for federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams said Australian links to al-Qa’ida and other terrorist organisations had been the main focus of ASIO investigations since September 11.

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