The Daily Telegraph (Australia)

August 9, 2006 Wednesday
State Edition

Legal fight on hate books ban


A ban slapped on jihadist books of hate last month now faces a court
challenge -- because civil libertarians claim it is based on an error of
law.

The NSW Council of Civil Liberties has filed a Federal Court application
to overturn the ban -- and potentially put the books back on sale -- with
a directions hearing set for August 29.

The action follows the Classification Review Board's decision to make it
an offence to distribute Defence of the Muslim Lands and Join the Caravan.

Both books were discovered by The Daily Telegraph last July during an
investigation into hate-filled material on sale in Sydney Islamic
bookstores.

In the documents filed in the Federal Court, the council argues the books
do not pass an objective test of having ''both a purpose and a tendency of
encouraging and equipping people to commit crime or violence''.

Passing such a test was necessary to ban them under the National
Classification Code, the application said.