CANBERRA, Australia, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A row is brewing in Australia over Saudi Arabia's funding of Islamic groups in the country.
The government of Prime Minister John Howard said last week it objected to Saudi funding for a mosque in the city of Adelaide over fears the mosque could be used by radicals -- a fear borne from previous incidences of extremist preaching at Islamic centers in the country, according to The Weekend Australian.
It was also reported last week that the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Canberra had provided money to pay the salaries of 20 Muslim clerics nationwide.
The newspaper said the embassy had failed to return telephone calls about the funding, and instead sent a copy of a Jan. 9 media statement that objected to statements by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's concern of the Adelaide mosque project.
In that statement, the embassy said any financial assistance it provided was "conducted in coordination between the embassy and the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Groups receiving funding had to receive "the necessary approval" from the Australian department, it added.
The Weekend Australian, however, said in its Saturday edition a spokeswoman from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade denied any such vetting procedure.
"The Australian government does not approve or make decisions about the funding of Australian Islamic institutions by the Saudi Arabian government," she said.
In the wake of the 2005 London bombings by radicalized Muslims in Britain, Australia has cracked down on incendiary speech by Islamic preachers. A counter-terror sweep in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney in late 2005 led to the arrest of more than a dozen men said to be planning terror attacks in Australia. A number of them had close ties with a radical preacher, who has returned to his native Egypt, where he is said to be continuing his calls Muslim youth to engage in jihad.
