Bankstown prayer centre run by Wissam Haddad to be shuttered
A council in Sydney’s southwest has moved to shut down an illegal place of worship run by a condemned preacher.
The City of Canterbury Bankstown announced on Tuesday it was taking action to close the Al Madina Dawah Centre, run by Wissam Haddad.
Premier Chris Minns said he supported the council’s actions.
“There is no place for hate speech in NSW, so we support all action against those inciting hatred and we will not stop,” he said.
“We are ready to make significant changes to prevent hate preachers or anyone who incites violence in our communities.”
The council’s regulatory and compliance team issued a “cease use” order against Haddad late on Monday after the “illegal place of worship” was placed under surveillance.
In a statement, the council said a review of records dating back to 1970 revealed it had never been given permission to operate as a place of worship and had only recently been given approval to operate as a medical centre.
The closure followed a terrorist attack on Bondi Beach, which authorities claimed was linked to radical Islam.
Mr Haddad had previously denied to media outlets through a lawyer that he had “any knowledge of or involvement in the Bondi Beach shootings”.
There is no allegation that he had knowledge of or took part in the attack.
He is notorious for his inflammatory comments and in July was ordered by a court to remove a series of lectures found to contain “fundamentally racist and anti-Semitic” material.
More to come.
