He's not nice but he's not a security risk: Muslim leader

smh.com.au June 10 2003

A Sydney man named in a report by US intelligence agency CIA as having links with al-Qaeda was "not generally a nice person' but was no security risk, an Australian Muslim leader said today.

Keysar Trad, vice-president of the Lebanese Muslim Association, said Bilal Khazal would already have been arrested if he posed any threat.

"He is abrupt, he is abrasive, he's just someone who's not generally a nice person," Mr Trad said.

"He sometimes likes to talk tough (but) he's not a security risk.

"I have not seen anything from the group that he associates with that would pose any risk to the security of Australia."    advertisement       advertisement

A Four Corners program last night said the CIA report alleged Mr Khazal trained in Afghanistan in 1998 and was planning attacks on US interests in Venezuela and the Philippines.

He worked for Qantas until a security review shortly before the 2000 Olympics and now runs an internet site for the Islamic Youth Movement in Sydney.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today Mr Khazal's passport had been revoked because of security concerns.

Mr Trad admitted he had not spoken to Mr Khazal for about seven or eight years, since Mr Khazal left the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney's south-west and began worshiping at another centre.

However, Mr Trad said if any of the people named in the ABC program, such as Mr Khazal, were a security threat, they would be in custody.

"All the concerns that they raised, if these had been genuine security concerns, then why weren't these people arrested? Why weren't they charged with anything?" he said.

"These people roam about freely.

"It just all seems to be a huge beat up because there's such fear out there in the community."