A Muslim cleric who has previously suggested the death sentence for gay people has left Australia following a public outcry at his entry into the country for a speaking tour.
British-born Farrokh Sekaleshfar has boarded a flight at Sydney Airport on Tuesday night after it emerged his visa was under review, according to the ABC.
His Sydney tour came under fire in the wake of the Orlando massacre at a gay nightclub after a video emerged of the Muslim leader preaching death as a compassionate sentence for homosexuals.
Mr Sekaleshfar said he made the "voluntary decision" to leave Australia and his visa, which had been under review by the immigration department, had not been cancelled.
"All I want to say, because I know this got caught up in the political area and everything, that never have I incited hatred or violence against human beings," he told the ABC at Sydney Airport.
The cleric had been slated to give a talk at the Imam Husian Islamic Centre in Earlwood, but he said they asked him to leave.
"It is a decision that IHIC thought it was in my best interests and for the best interests of the community and I didn't want to go against the committee's decision," he said.
Mr Sekaleshfar told the ABC he condemned the Orlando attack, where 49 people were killed and more than 50 others injured by a gunman.
He said the death penalty should only apply in Islamic countries when homosexual sex was committed in public view.
In a 2013 YouTube video titled "Islam and Homosexuality", the cleric delivered a talk at the University of Michigan where he said if homosexuals died they would sin less.
"Out of compassion let's get rid of them now, because he's contaminating society ... his eternal life will be saved to some degree rather than if we were to let him continue with his ways," he said in the video.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier said he had zero tolerance for hate preachers wanting to come to Australia.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the man was not welcome in Australia with his abhorrent views.
"I don't know how on earth that fellow got a visa," he told reporters in Perth.
