Hundreds to mourn Aussie killed in Libya



HUNDREDS of mourners are expected to attend the sunset service for a Sydney Islamic leader killed after joining the fight against Muammar Gaddafi.


The condolence ceremony and sunset service is to be held for Sheik Naser Zuway at Lakemba in western Sydney at 7.20pm (AEDT) today.

Sydney Islamic community spokesman Keysar Trad said “hundreds” of mourners were expected to attend, including the new grand mufti, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad.

Sheik Zuway was president of the Australian Union of Africa and Arab Associations and had arrived in Australia from Libya as a political refugee in the 1990s.

He had been appointed imam of a Cabramatta mosque and would be remembered as a hero of liberation, Mr Trad said.

“His cousins see him as a national hero of the liberation who risked everything to free his fellow human beings from tyranny and oppression; they see him as a Christ-like figure in terms of making the sacrifice,” Mr Trad said.

Mr Rudd confirmed the death of Sheik Zuway yesterday and said a funeral service had already taken place, adding that Australian officials were still seeking information about his fate.

In an interview with ABC Radio in March, Sheik Zuway said he travelled to Benghazi to protect his wife and children who were holidaying in the city when the Libyan uprising began.

After he arrived, he decided to stay and said he would not return to Australia until Colonel Gaddafi was defeated.

“I’m prepared to die for the sake of freedom and justice and to see our country taking their place in the world and Gaddafi to leave Libya,” he said at the time.

One of Sheik Zuway’s relatives, Hassan Enbaiwa, told the ABC yesterday he was killed by a Gaddafi loyalist in Sirte on Monday while helping people in a suburb named Hay al Dollar.

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