Hizb ut-Tahrir pre-empts crackdown ahead of PM national security statement

The controversial Muslim group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, will hold an "emergency" media conference ahead of a national security statement from the prime minister.

The Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir has moved to pre-empt a crackdown on the controversial organisation ahead of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's first national security statement next week.

Mr Abbott, who's due to address federal parliament on Monday, has made it clear in recent weeks that Hizb ut-Tahrir is in the government's sights.

Hizb ut-Tahrir will hold an "emergency" media conference on Thursday to "strongly articulate" its position in relation to Mr Abbott's proposals.

"It's clear that Tony Abbott has mentioned the name of Hizb ut-Tahrir," a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir told AAP on Wednesday.

"We will be stating our position and responding to what has been said."

Mr Abbott has on a number of occasions in recent weeks signalled the government was looking at potentially banning the group.

"If cracking down on Hizb ut-Tahrir and others who nurture extremism in our suburbs means further legislation, we will bring it on and I will demand that the Labor party call it for Australia," he told the National Press Club earlier this month.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Hizb ut-Tahrir said flagged changes to Australia's national security framework had implications for the muslim community and wider society.

"From the explicit removal of the presumption of innocence, to the criminalisation of peaceful political activism, the institutionalised discrimination against entire communities or the specific crack down on Islamic movements, the changes proposed by Tony Abbott have far reaching consequences that extend way beyond their immediate target," it said.

Mr Abbott on Sunday announced the government was looking at sweeping changes to the national security architecture in response to recent terror attacks and raids, and the rise of Islamic State which he said had caused new threats to emerge.

The prime minister also hit out at the the Grand Mufti of Australia for speaking against a possible ban on Hizb ut-Tahrir, saying comments attributed to Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed were "wrong-headed" and "unhelpful".

Dr Ibrahim, the spiritual leader of Muslims in Australia, last week said it would be a "political mistake" to ban the group.


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Source: AAP

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