August 23, 2005
One of Australia's Muslim leaders personally selected by prime minister John Howard to attend a summit with representatives of Islam in Canberra has expressed his belief that the 11 September 2001 attacks in New York were part of a Jewish conspiracy, according to Australian media reports. "September 11 is definitely pursuant to the West and yet to be proven in any court of law," a fax sent out by Haji Abdul Raman Din last July reads. "Where are the black boxes, flight recorders, why did 4,000 Jews not show up for work, the list goes on." Abdul Raman Din, however, has issued a statement denying that he had made these comments. PM Howard has insisted that those at the summit represent the moderate voice of Islam and had ruled out inviting those with extreme views to the meeting. Another participant, Amir Ali, however, has said that he would have preferred a broader range of representatives: "Bringing (extremists) in and demolishing their arguments rationally we can (moderate) them."
