Anti-gay Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar leaves country; Dutton cancels Islamic preacher’s visa

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has cancelled the controversial Muslim preacher’s visa following public outcry. In any case, Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar, who said in a 2013 lecture that death penalty was the punishment for homosexuals, has left of his own accord.

Sekaleshfar was in Sydney to give a talk at the Imam Husian Islamic Centre in Earlwood. However, he left the country on Tuesday night following public outcry.

“It is a decision that IHIC thought it was in my best interest and for the best interest of the community, and I didn’t want to go against the committee’s decision,” Sekaleshfar told the ABC at the airport. He was about the leave the country, clarifying that the government has not asked him to leave, but he was leaving voluntarily nonetheless.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier on Tuesday said Sekaleshfar’s visa was being reviewed by Dutton. This was after the British doctor and Islamic preacher’s lectures on homosexuality punishment have made the rounds online.

Dutton later told Sky News that the immigration acted quickly as soon as the ministry was made aware of Sekaleshfar’s hate preach history.

“Where we’re aware of views of individuals, be they hate preachers or people that have controversial things to say otherwise, obviously we can intervene in those cases. In relation to this matter when the particular information was brought to our attention, we acted quickly,” he said.

The minister added that the sheikh decided to leave the country on his own, and that it would be “very difficult, if not impossible” for Sekaleshfar to return to Australia. Dutton then defended why the Immigration gave the sheikh a visa in the first place, saying a large number of people from the UK come in the country every year, and it’s difficult for the ministry to look into the social media pages of everyone to check their characters.

The British doctor was thrust into the media spotlight following the Orlando shooting in the US on Sunday. Although he had no connection to shooter Omar Mateen, there are people who assumed that Mateen attended his lecture in Orlando, Florida, in March.

In a 2013 lecture, Sekaleshfar told his listeners that “death is the sentence” for gay people. “Out of compassion, let’s get rid of them now,” The Australian quoted him in his lecture.

On Monday, he explained to the Daily Telegraph that his comments on homosexuality were taken out of context. Those were only applicable in Islamic societies, not Western societies. He also said he condemned Mateen’s act of violence, saying that if Mateen had attended his lectures, the Orlando shooter would have condemned hate and violence.

Read more: Orlando shooting: Muslim cleric preaching death to homosexuals is in Sydney