Jamal Rifi

Jamal Rifi (born 16 June 1959) is a Lebanese-born Australian general practitioner and prominent figure in the Lebanese Muslim community in Sydney. He is known for winning The Australian newspaper’s Australian of the Year in January 2015.

Biography

Born in Lebanon, Rifi moved to Australia at the age of 24 to study medicine.[1] Rifi has been acknowledged for his work in trying to prevent the radicalisation of young Muslims in Sydney and has been praised for his community work;[2][3] however, he has also been criticised and received death threats, including from terrorist Mohamed Elomar, who once tweeted that he would give money to people who helped intimidate Rifi, whom he described as a "Habashi dog", and his family.[2][4][5]

He has strongly criticised the content some of the material sold in Islamic bookshops, saying that it is better to discuss these issues rather than banning books.[6]

In 2010, he was a national finalist as Australia's Local Hero for the Australian of the Year.[7] Subsequently in January 2015 he was chosen by The Australian newspaper as its alternate Australian of the Year.[8] When he was announced as the winner, he was praised by senior politician Scott Morrison who said that Rifi is a "great Australian".[8]

In October 2015, Rifi was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Canberra.[9]

In 2017, Rifi was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia.[10]

See also

References
  1. SBS News (23 August 2013). "What's in it for me? Doctor". Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  2. d'Souza, Ges (9 March 2015). "Sydney GP Jamal Rifi's 'brave' stance against Islamic State and the radicalisation of young people". ABC News. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  3. Snow, Deborah; Olding, Rachel (27 January 2015). "Muslim leaders need 'keyboard warriors' to help fight Islamic State". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  4. Mark Schliebs; Gina Rushton (14 August 2014). "Home-grown killer threatens outspoken GP Jamal Rifi". The Australian. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  5. Van den Broeke, Leigh (28 August 2014). "Muslim leader Dr Jamal Rifi offers to pay Islamic radicals to leave nation". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  6. Fife-Yeomans, Janet; Benns, Matthew (17 November 2014). "Peddling pages of barbaric savagery: Islamic shops still selling female mutilation books". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  7. "National Finalist Australia's Local Hero 2009 Dr Jamal Rifi". Australian of the Year. 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  8. Robinson, Natasha (24 January 2015). "Australian of the Year Jamal Rifi: 'Our shared values must unite us all'". The Australian. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  9. http://www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/media/media-releases/2015/september/university-of-canberra-graduations-october-2015
  10. Ritchie, Emily (12 June 2017)."Queen's Birthday Honours 2017: Jamal Rifi AM wants to protect all families". The Australian. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
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