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Muslim navy Captain has twitter account deleted following complaint

A twitter account allegedly belonging to the navy’s most senior Muslim officer has been shut down after it retweeted a post mocking Tony Abbott and backed the Grand Mufti’s controversial response to the Paris terror attacks.

Captain Mona Shindy, the Chief of Navy’s strategic adviser on Islamic affairs, is understood to have run the account @navyislamic until it was deleted shortly before Christmas following at least one complaint.

In September, the social media account retweeted counter-terrorism expert Anne Aly, on the night of the leadership change, The Australian reports.

“Wait. Did our new PM just give a speech and not mention boats, death cult, security, death cult, terrorism, national security and death cult?” the tweet read.

In October, the account was used to attack a new Queensland-based political party called the Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA), which was launched by controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

“Real shame to see these extreme ill informed fringe groups threatening #community #cohesion. #auspol #teamhumanrace” the tweet from October 22 stated.

Captain Shindy was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in last year’s Australia Day honours and was named the Telstra NSW Businesswoman of the Year in November.Source: AAP.
Captain Shindy was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in last year’s Australia Day honours and was named the Telstra NSW Businesswoman of the Year in November.Source: AAP.

Then in November, five days after the Paris terror attacks, @navyislamic tweeted the hashtag #IStandWithTheMufti.

The tweet described the Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, whose comments on Islamic extremism were widely criticised following the deadly attacks, as a “righteous & courageous man who categorically denounces” Islamic State and terrorism.

Captain Shindy, who is a 26-year veteran of the navy and head of its Guided Missile Frigate Program, also called for the word ‘Islam’ to be removed from reporting on Islamic state in policy talk in an essay published in June.

The Australian reports she also called for ‘frank, fearless debate‘ about the ‘root cause and triggers’ of Islamic grievances, which she said included foreign policy double standards and the fact that young Australian Muslims felt they had been marginalised.

A Defence Department spokesperson told the newspaper the navy had consolidated its social media platforms in order to achieve a ‘single source’ and ‘strengthen its messaging in synch with its support to traditional media’.

The Guardian reports the Twitter account was deleted 12 days after the head of the ALA Debbie Robinson, wrote to the Australian Defence Force asking the navy to distance itself from the account or delete it.

“It is completely unacceptable for an official defence Twitter account to criticise any registered political party in Australia,” Robinson, who has previously described Islam as a ‘dangerous idealogy’ said in a press release.

Captain Shindy who is currently on leave, has declined to comment on the matter.

News break – January 5