(ABC-Australia) A religious leader accused of illegal land clearing on a rural property used for religious prayer has claimed a Western Sydney council is infringing on his group’s religious freedoms by pursuing him over the allegations.
Hawkesbury City Council has launched civil action against Dr Mustapha Kara-Ali and Diaa Kara-Ali in the Land and Environment Court, alleging they carried out illegal land clearing, earthworks and built gates, fences and driveways without seeking any of the relevant development approvals at a property in Colo, in Sydney’s north west.
Mustapha Kara-Ali, a former member of then-Prime Minister John Howard’s Muslim Community Reference Group and past postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, is the imam of religious guild Diwan Al Dawla.
