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Responding to the latest anti-terrorism raids in Victoria, Muslims have criticized the new Australian laws, calling them draconian and unjust. The group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, is also calling for the removal of US Embassies from the Muslim world in response to the killing of America’s ambassador in Libya, saying they were primarily "tools for colonial exploitation". “We reiterate that the root cause for terrorism is Western foreign policy in the Muslim world,” Uthman Badar, spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia , said. According to the Age, the raids in Victoria in which a 23-year-old man was arrested and uncovered guns and extremist propaganda, have been supported by Melbourne 's Muslim community. "The raids were carried out by police, by the state," Badar said in Sydney , adding: "Whether anyone else supports that is their decision to make." Badar, however, declined to directly condemn terrorism. "We would rather keep the focus on where it should be ... There are people who have condemned 9/11 until they have run out of breath," he said. "Has that changed anything? I leave the rhetoric for the politicians," he said, adding: "These laws seek to criminalise ideas and put Islam on trial." According to the report, commenting on the film video that mocked the prophet, he said that there would be no tolerance for videos like the one that appeared on YouTube and reportedly sparked the raids on the US Embassy in Libya , which killed four Americans, including the ambassador. "Insulting the prophet will not be tolerated," Badar said, adding: "Those who justify this (video) in the name of freedom of expression put themselves offside with two billion Muslims around the world”.

Muslims oppose Australian anti-terrorism laws