Founder, Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia (alias "Abu Anas") · 1957, West Bank – 18 May 2023 · Australia (previously Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, Germany, Denmark)
Ismail al-Wahwah, also known as Abu Anas, was the founder and long-time leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia. Born in the West Bank in 1957, he joined Hizb ut-Tahrir in the late 1970s and lived and preached across Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, Germany and Denmark before Australia.
In 2016 he told a conference in Turkey that Muslims needed to lead "the armies of jihad that will conquer Europe and America" (Daily Mail Australia, 8 Nov 2018). On 25 July 2018 he was arrested by Jordanian authorities at Amman airport while travelling with his wife, and was later moved to Muwaqqar II, a maximum-security prison that the Daily Mail reported also held al-Qaeda prisoners. His son Anas spoke for him to The Australian. Alkarama, a rights group that campaigned for his release, says he was sentenced to two years in prison over posts he had shared on Facebook. Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in Jordan. He had come to Australia as a refugee in 1997 (Daily Mail; Alkarama; Australian Jewish News).
In November 2018 The Australian described him as "the spiritual head of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia" who had "pushed the limits of free speech in Australia, saying the world 'deserves' an Islamic caliphate and calling for a jihad against Jews on the streets of Sydney". His Jordanian lawyer said he was charged with incitement against the regime for "sharing some material as it relates to the resumption of the Islamic life and the establishment of the caliphate"; his son said it was over Facebook posts critical of Jordan's royal family. About 400 people rallied for his release in Lakemba on 2 September 2018, holding signs in Arabic reading "We are all Ismail Al-Wahwah", addressed by HT spokesman Wassim Doureihi (The Australian, 8 Nov 2018).
Ismail al-Wahwah, conference in Turkey, 2016 - Arabic; Daily Mail translation: Muslims must lead "the armies of jihad that will conquer Europe and America" (video)
The Australian - Australian Islamist cleric in maximum security with al-Qa'ida's worst (Elias Visontay, 8 Nov 2018) - copy held by The Evidence Project
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