NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed that the police are currently conducting a significant investigation into an alarming threat targeting a mosque in western Sydney, which made reference to the Christchurch terror attack.
On Tuesday evening, NSW Police verified they were looking into the Australian Islamic House – Masjid Al-Bayt Al-Islami’s report of an online threat via Instagram.
The mosque relayed that a user made disturbing comments on their Instagram page, saying they were “about to christ church 2.0 this join [sic].” A screenshot of these comments has been provided to Guardian Australia by the mosque.
The threat appears to allude to the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, which occurred on March 15, 2019. In this tragedy, Brenton Tarrant carried out mass shootings at the Al Noor mosque in Riccarton and the Linwood Islamic Centre, resulting in the deaths of 51 people. Tarrant has since been convicted of terrorism and the 51 murders and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Mazhar Hadid, the president of the Australian Islamic House, expressed his deep concern regarding the threat, particularly its connection to the “tragic” Christchurch attack. He emphasized that the mosque’s community deserves to feel safe like any other citizens of the country.
Police mentioned that the online threat was made on Monday and identified that it originated from interstate during its preliminary inquiries. They added that there were no ongoing threats to the community.
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Minns described the threat as “very distressing” and underlined that the NSW government and police are taking it “very seriously.”
“Racist threats and Islamophobia will not be tolerated and will be met with the full force of the law,” he stated.
Further updates to follow …
