‘He doesn’t have a bomb. If he did, I’d kill him’

Badria’s brother has been linked to terrorism plots in Australia, the country they now call home. He has not been charged.

The family’s Endeavour Hills house was raided yesterday morning during an Australian Federal Police operation.

Computers, mobile phones, hard drives, an iPad and a printer Badria says she used for her homework were seized.

Speaking to Fairfax with her mother in their neat two-storey home, Badria said the family had been so shocked since the raid, they had not eaten.

Badria did not wish to give her surname, and her mother wished to remain anonymous. But both wanted to speak out about the damaging links that are continually made between practising Muslims and terrorism.

Badria said her brother’s wife had lost her father and brother to violence in Afghanistan, and her mother had lost both hands.

He had never been to the Al-Furqan centre, which was also raided yesterday, and did not know Sheikh Harun, the Muslim preacher mentioned during the operation, she said.

“He hates terrorism,” Badria said.

“Why would he have anything to do with it? I know my brother very well, and he swore on the Koran that he had nothing to do with it. I believe him, and my parents believe him.

“I told the police that I respect what they’re doing, because you’re just trying to protect us. We’re part of this society too.

“We might be innocent, but the next people they raid might not be.”

Badria, 20, was a year old when she left Kabul with her two older brothers and older sister.

The 28-year-old brother who was targeted in the raid yesterday is married, and lives in the Endeavour Hills home with his wife and four-month-old baby.

He owns a small business, as does his older sister, while his brother is a financial planner and Badria studies law and is training to be a pilot.

His mother said her children had been successful in Australia, but she was dismayed that many thought of Afghans as terrorists.

“In Afghanistan, we had a good life, but we were worried about terrorism,” she said.

“We thought we would come to Australia for the lives of our children, for their education. Now, just because my son goes to a mosque and prays he’s in trouble with the police.

“Just because he prays five times and day and has made CDs showing other people how to pray, it doesn’t make him a terrorist.

“He doesn’t have a gun, he doesn’t have a bomb. If he did, I’d kill him.”

Badria believes her brother, who was at work and could not speak to The Age, may have come under attention as he had recently become a more devout Muslim.

He had also been collecting money for a charity, which is registered, and had given Korans to Afghan children as a way of educating them about their heritage.

“He’s just trying to collect money to give to the poor in Afghanistan,” Badria said.

“The police were asking him ‘Why do you go to the mosque five times a day? Why do you have a beard?’ We were just in shock.

“A year ago he knew nothing about Islam, he was one of those party people. Since he’s started praying, things have turned around for him.”

His mother said she hoped the family would not be shunned by those in the street who had seen the early morning raids. She said she chose not to wear a hijab, despite being a practising Muslim who prayed five times a day.

“I should be able to pray without people thinking I support terrorism,” she said.