{"id":40966,"date":"2026-02-19T15:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=40966"},"modified":"2026-02-19T15:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:04:30","slug":"australian-police-probe-threatening-letter-to-countrys-largest-mosque-ahead-of-ramazan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=40966","title":{"rendered":"Australian police probe threatening letter to country’s largest mosque ahead of Ramazan"},"content":{"rendered":"
Australian police said on Thursday they had launched an investigation after a threatening letter was sent to the country’s largest mosque, the third such incident in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan.<\/p>\n

The letter sent to Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west on Wednesday contained a drawing of a pig and a threat to kill the “Muslim race”, local media reported.<\/p>\n

Police said they had taken the letter for forensic testing and would continue to patrol religious sites, including the mosque, as well as community events.<\/p>\n

The latest letter comes weeks after a similar message was mailed to the mosque, depicting Muslim people inside a mosque on fire. Police have also arrested and charged a 70-year-old man in connection with a third threatening letter sent to Lakemba Mosque’s staff in January.<\/p>\n

Read More: US lawmakers call on congressman to resign over remarks about Muslims<\/p>\n

The Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs the mosque, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation it had written to the government to request more funding for additional security guards and CCTV cameras.<\/p>\n

Some 5,000 people are expected to attend the mosque each night during Ramazan. More than 60% of residents in the suburb of Lakemba identify as Muslim, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.<\/p>\n

Blal El-Hayek, mayor of Canterbury-Bankstown council, where Lakemba is located, said the community was feeling “very anxious”.<\/p>\n

“I’ve heard first-hand from people saying that they won’t be sending their kids to practice this Ramazan because they’re very concerned about things that might happen in local mosques,” he said.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the recent string of threats.<\/p>\n

“It is outrageous that people just going about commemorating their faith, particularly during the holy month for Muslims of Ramazan, are subject to this sort of intimidation,” he told ABC radio.<\/p>\n

“I have said repeatedly we need to turn down the temperature of political discourse in this country, and we certainly need to do that.”<\/p>\n

Anti-Muslim sentiment has been growing in Australia since the war in Gaza in late 2023, according to a recent report commissioned by the government.<\/p>\n

The Islamophobia Register Australia has also documented a 740% rise in reports following the Bondi mass shooting on December 14, where authorities allege two gunmen inspired by Islamic State killed 15 people attending a Jewish holiday celebration.<\/p>\n

“There’s been a massive increase post-Bondi,” Mayor El-Hayek said. “Without a doubt, this is the worst I have ever seen it. There’s a lot of tension out there.”<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian police said on Thursday they had launched an investigation after a threatening letter was sent to the country’s largest mosque, the third such incident in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan. The letter sent to Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west on Wednesday contained a drawing of a pig and a threat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}