We all remember Sheikh “Cat Meat” Hilali, right?
Well, he has had a little bit of trouble this week, with a spot of vandalism his own mosque:
Australia’s most controversial sheik, Taj Din al-Hilali, has been caught on videotape kicking in a door at his own mosque before calling police to report an act of vandalism.
The head imam at the Lakemba mosque, who caused outrage in 2006 by comparing scantily clad women to uncovered meat, was shown on a CCTV security tape kicking open the door just minutes before reporting the incident.
The footage shows four young men locking the door behind them at 10.28pm.
Nine minutes later, Sheik Hilali checks the lock and pushes on the top of the door, bending it on its hinges. After checking the corridor, he disappears from view before rushing towards it and kicking it open at 10.46pm.
It is understood the name of the suspected culprit was put forward to NSW police, but it is not known if he was interviewed by the authorities.
Here is an Australian TV report, showing the incident:
This was Hilali’s initial explanation of the video:
The Nine Network’s A Current Affair last night broadcast the videotape from March 9, showing the incident, which Sheik Hilali initially denied.
“There is a trick in this camera. There is a trick in this film,” he told ACA.
Now, the first rule of lying is: stick to your story, however unlikely. The second rule of lying is: don’t change your story, even to improve it. That will always undermine your credibility.
But in a letter sent by Sheik Hilali’s lawyers to ACA yesterday, he admitted kicking the door, saying the damage had already been done to the door before he kicked it.
“What he did do was to kick open a door to the mosque that had already been damaged by others in order to gain entry to it,” the letter said.
Oh dear. He should never have changed his story. Somebody would have believed him:
“We are in the 21st Century. The cows can be made to look as dancing, the horses can speak like humans, so these things can be doctored or can be produced.”
Take a bow, Dr Mohammed Naseem!
