Council to shut down Wissam Haddad’s Islamic centre

2 months ago 6

NSW Premier Chris Minns said the state government was supporting “all action to clamp down on those inciting hate”, and supported Canterbury-Bankstown Council in closing the facility.

“We are ready to make significant changes to prevent hate preachers or anyone else inciting violence in our communities,” he added.

This is not the first time the council has issued Haddad a “cease use” order for one of his premises.

In 2023, Haddad was issued a warning about a centre in Georges Hall which was only approved to operate as a gym. After further inquiries and surveillance by the council, a second notice was issued and complied with.

Non-compliance with the council’s notice could result in a penalty infringement notice of $3000 for an individual or $6000 for a corporation.

Last week, the centre issued a statement saying it was “under new management” and that Haddad “has no role in the management, committee or board of Al Madina Group”.

Naveed Akram has been charged with almost 60 offences, including 15 murders.

“His involvement is limited to occasional invitations as a guest speaker, including delivering lectures and, at times, Friday sermons.”

Despite that, the centre also shared on its social media pages a subsequent statement from Haddad, in which he sought to distance himself from the Bondi attack and to deny any involvement.

Haddad said in the statement that there was “no verified photos” of him and Akram together, but he did not address whether he knew the alleged shooter. He added it was “misleading” to call Akram one of his followers and denied any prior knowledge of the attack.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the centre said that they were not aware of the council’s actions or their surveillance of the centre, pointing to their statement released last week that they were under new management.

“We are not aware of this notice by council, and we will look into it. It is false and incorrect to say we are run by Wissam Haddad at this time.

“We are a new organisation who have taken over, our understanding was that the previous tenants had the correct approvals. Something must have been lost somewhere along the line.”