Christians Under Attack

Mr Nile, who is recontesting his upper house seat at the March 24 state election, on Saturday called for a 10-year ban on Islamic immigration.

He wants the immigration department to give preference to persecuted Christians while studies on the impact of Islamic immigration are carried out during the moratorium.

Mr Nile has previously called for a ban on the wearing of full-face scarves in NSW.

Today, he said he and another Christian Democratic Party (CDP) candidate had received death threats in recent days.

On Friday, a man had telephoned Allan Lotfizadeh, the CDP candidate for the western Sydney electorate of Auburn, and said: "You Christian pig. You are dead", Mr Nile said.

Yesterday, Mr Nile said, a man approached a CDP election worker at Granville and asked her where he (Mr Nile) lived, and what he had against Muslims.

She had then said: "Tell Fred Nile I am going to act out my faith on him".

Mr Nile said he believed the threats were linked to his statements on Islamic immigration and full-face scarves.

"I think, if they're talking about the Muslim issue it's related to the Muslim issue," he said.

Mr Nile said the threats, which have been reported to police, highlighted the need for the immigration moratorium.

"The reason why I called for the moratorium is because of what's happening in France and Holland where the Muslim minority are becoming militant," he said.

Prominent Muslim community leader Keysar Trad condemned the threats against Mr Nile.

"Anybody who thinks of making death threats should cease and desist and anybody who knows anybody who's making threats should call the police," he said.

Mr Trad said many members of the Islamic community had been the victims of threats and verbal or physical abuse.

"Now he (Mr Nile) has an idea what it's like for us," Mr Trad said.

A split appeared to emerge in the CDP over the immigration issue today, with Mr Nile's fellow upper house MP Gordon Moyes indicating he had reservations about the policy.

"In the Christian Democratic Party we are instructed to vote on issues according to our conscience and therefore we can have different points of view on some issues," Dr Moyes said.

"I have some differences with Fred on this matter but Fred is the one standing for election so I'm not getting into that debate."

Upper house MPs are elected for eight-year terms and Dr Moyes is not due to face the voters again until 2011.

Last month, former broadcaster Maxine McKew, who is seeking Labor preselection for Prime Minister John Howard's seat of Bennelong for this year's federal election, reported she'd received death threats.

POSTED BY/http://www.theaustralian.news.com