Muslim cleric flees Australia after comments about gays

A Muslim cleric Farrokh Sekalesh has left Australia with the country’s immigration head saying he will not be able to return easily after ‘inflammatory’ comments about gays.


The cleric came under scrutiny by Australian authorities following a newspaper report about comments he made about homosexuality during a lecture at the University of Michigan.
The Australian newspaper reported that Sekaleshfar said: “Death is the sentence” for gay sex acts in public.
“Out of compassion, let’s get rid of them now,” he reportedly added.
Sekaleshfar insists his comments did not incite hatred and offers sympathy to Orlando victims especially as Australia’s election campaign now focuses on threats posed by hard-line groups.
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton said on Wednesday that the cleric left before Dutton’s department cancelled his visa on Tuesday night.
“This individual has decided to leave of his own accord last night, which we welcome and it will be very difficult if not impossible for him to return back to our country,” Dutton told Radio 5AA.