Mizanur Rahman Azhari, an antisemitic radical Islamic preacher from Bangladesh who has praised Adolf Hitler and railed against Jewish people in the past, was deported from Australia on Wednesday.
The Bengali citizen who described Jews as the “biggest terrorists in the world” and was previously banned from the UK was granted a visitor’s visa to deliver a series of sermons in Sydney and across Australia.
That visa has now been revoked.
The Daily Mail reports that Azhari was halfway through a speaking tour in Australia titled, “Legacy of Faith” when Australian officials revoked his visa and marked him for deportation. The tour included stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.
Azhari, who reportedly has about ten million online followers on social media, has praised Adolf Hitler in the past — claiming he was “divine punishment” against Jews. Other antisemitic remarks espoused by the Islamic preacher in his sermons include describing Jews as a “poisonous blemish.”
Per the Daily Mail, Azhari “expresses joy in his speeches about Hitler’s cruelty to Jews” and, in a 2023 sermon delivered in the United States, he espoused a barrage of antisemitic conspiracy theories, dehumanized the Jewish people, offering praises for the Holocaust and urged his listeners to sever ties with Jews.
Sydney’s Daily Telegraph noted it reviewed the footage of Azhari’s antisemitic remarks, and explained it is understood the office of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke became aware of the preacher’s arrival in Australia on Monday and had his visa cancelled on Tuesday.
Australian Senator Jonathan Duniam reportedly noted in remarks to parliament on Wednesday he and other lawmakers had been warned by local community groups about Azhari’s then-impending arrival to Australia.
The Senator stressed that it was deeply concerning that the administration of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had allowed the preacher to enter Australia in the first place in light of his well-documented extremism.
“But Mr Azhari, this speaker here who has been issued a visa by this government, has been sadly, in a number of other parts of the world, being accused of and found to have been spreading racial hatred,” Duniam reportedly said.
Duniam also pointed out that Azhari was barred from boarding a plane to the United Kingdom in 2021 for spreading anti-Hindu hatred and that Bangladeshi officials have acted against the Islamic preacher over his actions and threats to public order.
“In his home country of Bangladesh, the government then accused him of promoting extremist ideologies and being sympathetic to extremist Islamist groups,’ Duniam reported said.
‘The police were instructed to monitor the content of his gatherings because of the divisive nature and hatred that was spread through what he was doing,” he continued.
