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Islamic preacher’s terror link

Controversial Islamic preacher Junaid Thorne has confirmed a man killed by Victorian police last month was one of his followers.

Speaking exclusively to the ABC, the Perth-based Islamic fundamentalist said Melbourne teenager Numan Haider attended a number of his lectures.

Haider, 18, was shot dead after after stabbing two officers from the Joint Counter Terrorism team outside the Endeavour Hills police station in Melbourne’s south-east.

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Mr Thorne said the student attended a talk he gave at the Al Furqan Centre in Melbourne, but they never had a private conversation.

“One on one, he never asked me for personal advice,” he said.

“If you were to attend my lectures for example and we’d sit together after the lecture it would always be with a group of people.”

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Numan Haider was shot dead by police outside a Melbourne police station after stabbing two officers. Photo: Facebook

Haider had been under investigation by anti-terror police since July.

Authorities cancelled his passport just before his death, suspecting he was planning to travel to Syria.

Mr Thorne denied Haider approached him about joining rebel groups fighting in the Middle East.

“Anyone that approaches me asking advice about going overseas, I automatically would alienate that person because I wouldn’t trust anyone that asks me stuff like that,” he said.

After the shooting Mr Thorne publicly criticised the actions of police, saying they had provoked the teenager after visiting his home earlier in the day.

“We know the Government was pushing for something or for an excuse to pass these anti-terror laws – so he could’ve been used as a scapegoat,” he said.

Mr Thorne said he could not directly answer questions about whether he supports the Islamic State group, saying it was a “pretty controversial issue”.

“If I were to vocalise my complete support to them [Islamic State], I would get in trouble,” he said.

“If I was to say that [I] don’t support them at all, that would be untrue.

“I may support them [on] certain issues, while I disagree with them in other issues.”

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Junaid Thorne says Numan Haider attended a number of his lectures.

Mr Thorne toured the country twice this year, hosting a series of lectures at Islamic centres known for their hardline views of Islam – the iQraa Islamic centre in Brisbane, the now-closed Al Risalah in Bankstown, and Al Furqan in Melbourne.

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting these people personally and I know what they stand for,” he said.

“They may have views that are different from others but it doesn’t mean they have to be branded as extremists or as radicals or those people that want threat to the Australian community, that’s not true at all.”

Mr Thorne said young Muslims were more comfortable approaching him than some of the more senior preachers.

“I do get approached by a lot of youth seeking advice in normal teenage issues like marriage, study – teenage stuff,” he said.

Law enforcement sources say Mr Thorne is not under investigation, but they continue to monitor his activities.

Thorne ‘misguided’, ‘extremely naive’: anti-terror researcher

In June this year it was reported Mr Thorne had called Jews and Christians “filthy rapists” during one of his lectures.

He told the ABC he had been misunderstood.

“That was a very bad excerpt from one of the lectures I gave,” he said.

“If you go back to the lecture, I said we have our sisters being raped by filthy Jews and Christians. So I’m talking about the ones that actually do that.”

“I think he is aspiring to be a person who influences people, influences young vulnerable minds. I think he’s very misguided and extremely naive.”

Counter-terrorism researcher Anne Aly has spoken out against Mr Thorne, and said he was deliberately vocal and provocative.

“He’s said some very offensive remarks about Jews and Christians and these are the kinds of ideas that don’t bring Muslims together,” she said.

She said he did not pose a direct threat, but his ideas were similar to the driving force behind groups like Islamic State.

“Those ideas are really dangerous and they’re the ideas that are driving young men to [travel] overseas as foreign fighters,” she said.

“I think he is aspiring to be a person who influences people, influences young vulnerable minds. I think he’s very misguided and extremely naive.”

Stepfather taught Thorne about Islam

Mr Thorne moved to Saudi Arabia with his family when he was nine years old and stayed there for 14 years until he was deported last year for protesting his brother’s imprisonment.

His older brother, Shayden Thorne, was arrested on terrorism charges and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in a Saudi prison.

He served three years before he was pardoned in February this year.

“I wasn’t brought up the normal way a child would grow up, wasting time playing cards and games.”

“In Saudi Arabia being accused of terrorism doesn’t mean that you were plotting an attack or something. It is just because they sense you are a threat to the Government,” he said.

Mr Thorne could recite the Koran by the age of six, and said growing up in Saudi Arabia shaped a lot of his views.

“I wasn’t brought up the normal way a child would grow up, wasting time playing cards and games,” he said.

“I had a strict stepfather and he took care of me a lot in teaching me Islamic stuff.”

To some in the community he is referred to as a sheik, but he said it was not a title he had given himself.

“Personally I wouldn’t give myself that label. I’ve said more than once I don’t like people calling me that,” he said.

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