GULF NEWS: Canberra: Australia's top Muslim cleric riled critics on Tuesday by questioning Osama Bin Laden's role in the September 11 attacks on the United States, a day after being appointed to repair strains with non-Muslim Australians.
Shaikh Fehmi Naji El Imam, a moderate member of Prime Minister John Howard's Muslim advisors' group, was named the new Mufti of Australia on Monday, replacing controversial Sydney-based cleric Shaikh Taj El Din Hilaly.
"What evidence?" Fehmi said on Tuesday when reporters pressed him on whether he would drop his past reluctance to to link Al Qaida leader Bin Laden to the September 11, 2001 airliner attacks. New Australian Mufti sparks row on debut (more)
Mark Alexander
