Man charged in Australia over antisemitic threats
In Queensland, northeastern Australia, a 52-year-old man has been charged with two counts of making threats in circumstances of aggravation related to serious vilification or a hate crime. According to police, the charges concern offensive, threatening and antisemitic content directed at an unnamed religious organisation.
Arrest and search
As ABC News Australia reports, the man was arrested last Thursday on the Captain Cook Highway in the Macalister Range area, near the northern approaches to Cairns. Before that, law enforcement officers searched a property in Mossman, in the Shire of Douglas, about 70 kilometres northwest of Cairns.
Officers from the Australian Federal Police and the Queensland Police Service took part in the investigation. Law enforcement officials said they were responding to complaints about alleged ideologically motivated threats of violence.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Investigation continues
Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Anthony Conway said that harm to social cohesion at the local community level ultimately affects the country’s national security. According to him, police will not allow divisive and hateful rhetoric to spread.
Queensland Police Counter Terrorism Investigation Group Detective Superintendent Heath Hutchings said that the joint QPS and AFP hate crime task force had identified circumstances that could have affected community safety. The investigation is ongoing, and the man is due to appear before the Cairns Magistrates Court for the first time on September 21.
