Minister Tells Court that Interfaith Event Ended with Death Threat

June 23, 2005

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald/AAP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/interfaith-forum-ended-with-death-threat-court-told/2005/06/22/1119321795460.html?on

On June 23, 2005 the Australian Associated Press reported, "A Presbyterian minister has sought a permanent personal protection order, claiming his and his family's safety is at risk, after an interfaith meeting that was meant to promote friendship between Christians and Muslims... In his court complaint and summons, the Reverend Fayek Iskander, a Christian Egyptian, said he was approached by a man at the end of the meeting who told him, 'You are not going to live,' and then, 'You are not going to live as a Christian on earth any more.' He told the court, via a summons, that he understood 'this to have certain life-threatening implications for him' through his 'understanding of the Islamic faith and having lived overseas in an Islamic country.' But the man he alleges threatened him, Farouk Alfakhrany, a self-published author of booklets on Islam and Christianity, denied making such threats and claimed the allegation was an attempt to besmirch his good name and ignite tension with Muslims. Mr Iskander had overreacted when he had mistaken him for the author of an anti-Islamic brochure and wanted to set a time for them to meet, he said."