Muslim groups claim double standards in police handling of two high-profile stabbings in Sydney
May 3, 2024 2024-05-06 16:08Muslim groups claim double standards in police handling of two high-profile stabbings in Sydney
Muslim groups claim double standards in police handling of two high-profile stabbings in Sydney
Muslim groups in Australia have criticized the disparity in the police response to two stabbing attacks in Sydney this month, saying it created a perception of a double standard and further alienated the country’s minority Muslim community
The Australian National Imams Council said an attack at a Bondi Junction shopping center was “quickly deemed a mental health issue” while the stabbing of a Christian bishop at a Sydney church two days later was “classified as a terrorist act almost immediately.”
“The differing treatments of two recent violent incidents are stark,” the council’s spokesperson, Ramia Abdo Sultan, said in a statement with the Alliance of Australian Muslims and the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network.
“Such disparities in response create a perception of a double standard in law enforcement and judicial processes,” she said.
A 16-year-old boy is accused of repeatedly stabbing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and a priest at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church on April 15, two days after the Bondi Junction attack, in which six people were killed and a dozen others seriously wounded by a lone assailant with a history of mental illness.
The boy was charged last week with committing a terrorist act, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Sultan called for an inquiry into the processes leading up to the police raids to ensure transparency and accountability within the judicial system and to prevent marginalization of different ethnic and religious groups.
“We must also address the problematic and longstanding issue of racial and religious profiling, which has been part of the societal fabric for decades,” Sultan said. “The presumption that terrorism is inherently tied to religion is not only inaccurate but harmful.”
New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns agreed that it was important for allegations of terrorism to be correctly made but rejected any need for changes.
“The truth of the matter is, in some instances and it’s only some instances where there are terrorist activities, they are as a result of religious-based extremism,” Minns said at a news conference in Sydney on Friday.
More information on: ABC News