For years Muslim Group Radio has broadcastreligious applications to listeners in Sydney, bringing information and every day talk-back exhibits in Arabic in addition to making group bulletins.
As the one Muslim group station on FM radio in Sydney, it might attain a lot of the metropolis’s 300,000 Muslims, avoiding sign issues that plague most different group stations on low-powered AM transmission.
However behind the scenes there was a long-running dispute over who ought to maintain the station’s FM broadcasting licence, supplied by the Australian Communications Media Authority (Acma).
The Australian Nationwide Imams Council (ANIC) – the one central Islamic physique that represents Australian-based Muslim clerics and Imams – claims Muslim Group Radio doesn’t signify the broader Islamic group.
Muslim Group Radio is backed by representatives of the minority spiritual group al-Ahbash – a fringe Sunni motion famous for its fervent criticism of extra conservative Islamic teams such because the Salafis.
The Imams council is commonly the physique delivering main group bulletins, fielding calls from the media or making statements on political or spiritual points. And the council believes its centrality makes it a really perfect holder of the licence, which it has unsuccessfully tried to take over up to now.
It’s a dispute that dates again twenty years, with the council persistently saying Muslim Group Radio couldn't presumably signify the Muslim group and its broad spectrum the way in which it believes the council can.
The dispute spilled right into a Sydney courtroom final week, when the Imams council accused Acma of displaying a scarcity of “candour and trustworthiness” and mishandling its utility for the radio licence.
The council mentioned the licence was renewed with out giving honest consideration to competing candidates.
Muslim Group Radio has beforehand denied the Imams council’s claims, saying the constant help proven by the communication watchdog was proof of the station’s competence.
In submissions made to the federal courtroom, the Imams council’s barrister, Robert Angyal, mentioned the physique represented a “far broader spectrum of the Muslim group” in Sydney and that Muslim Group Radio was “dominated by a really slim and exclusionary sect of Islam”.
“The applicant is Australia’s largest peak Muslim physique and the only nationwide organisation of Australian Imams and Islamic students. And it represents the broader pursuits of the Australian Muslim group, as has been extensively recognised by state and federal governments.”
Angyal mentioned that a licence, when granted, might doubtlessly go on “for ever” and that Acma was not contemplating any options which will “do a greater job” than the incumbent holder.
When pushed on why the Imams council couldn’t simply apply for a separate licence, Angyal mentioned it was irrelevant to the case at hand.
“And never related as to if my consumer was adversely affected by this determination to resume the licence.”
Matthew Lewis, Muslim Group Radio’s barrister, advised the courtroom that the Imams council’s case might be boiled right down to the “wholly subjective” incontrovertible fact that it considers itself a competitor and an aggrieved get together.
“The related query is how particularly is ANIC aggrieved?” Lewis mentioned.
“There's merely no good proof setting out exactly how ANIC has been aggrieved.”
Lewis argued Acma was conscious of the connections between the radio station and Al-Ahbash, and that the authority’s determination to resume the licence was lawful.
“Acma was not persuaded that there was any proof that the Muslim Group Radio posed any important threat of the related sort, as recognized.”
Decide Jayne Jagot adjourned the case on Wednesday afternoon and a call is due within the coming months.
The Imams council and Muslim Group Radio declined to touch upon the case when contacted by Guardian Australia.
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