Australian government assures new anti-terrorism laws not targeted at Muslims

The Australian government on Thursday assured Muslim leaders that the proposed new anti- terrorism laws have adequate safeguards and are not targeted at Muslim communities in Australia.

Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock met 13 Muslim leaders here in Parliament House to brief them on the tough new anti-terrorism laws which agreed by state and territory leaders last week.

"The issues that we are dealing with are not with Muslims -- they are not with people of any particular race or religion," Ruddock said.

"The issues we are dealing with are behavioral issues -- how one civilized person engages with others," he said.

The laws were proposed by the federal government earlier last month, as Australia has become the only one in the core countries in the US-led coalition in Iraq which has never suffered a major terrorist attack on its home soil after the London bombings in July.

The laws give greater power to police while cracking down terror suspects and allow detention without charge for up to two weeks and control orders on terror suspects for up to 12 months.

Muslim leaders said they will seek meetings with the federal police and Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) to ensure that the laws be enforced properly.

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ameer Ali said Muslim leaders were reassured that the laws had adequate safeguards, but he would seek further assurances from Australian Federal Police Chief Mick Keelty and ASIO head Paul O'Sullivan in coming weeks.

"We have been given assurances and we are satisfied that there are enough safeguards for the Muslim community not to be targeted unnecessarily - it will be targeting the criminals who are committing this," Ali told Australian Associated Press.

"Our only worry was whether they would be implemented in the proper manner without targeting our community," he said.

"No law can be perfect. Every law will have a gap somewhere and there will be exceptions arising," he said.

"As long as we have the guarantee from the government and the law enforcement officers that such exceptions will be taken care of then they have nothing to fear," he said.

Source: Xinhua