Muslim imam resigns as Australian Defence Force’s religious adviser after senator reveals the sheikh signed a petition supporting Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, by Stephen Johnson.

A Muslim imam has resigned as a taxpayer-funded Australian Defence Force religious adviser after a senator told parliament he had signed a petition in favour of Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Sheikh Mohamadu Nawas Saleem quit his $717-a-day post last month, only days after Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi questioned how the government could justify employing someone who opposed democracy. …

In February 2015, Sheikh Saleem added his name to a petition opposing then prime minister Tony Abbott’s plan to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia. The petition argued Hizb ut-Tahrir, which supports Sharia law and has a constitution backing the death penalty for ex-Muslims, had never committed terrorist acts in Australia. But the group’s Islamist ideology is so extreme it is banned in Germany, The Netherlands, Russia and a range of Muslim-majority nations including Indonesia Pakistan, Bangladesh and even Saudi Arabia.

hat-tip Stephen Neil