Banned preacher's focus on Australia By Rachel Olding EXTREMISM A British preacher considered so extreme in his home country that he has been kicked out of mosques and spurned by the Islamic community has turned his gaze to Australia and is quickly building a support base in Sydney and Melbourne. 
Abu Haleema, who had his passport cancelled in Britain and was arrested on terrorism charges last year, has produced YouTube videos in recent weeks attacking moderate Sydney sheikhs Shady Alsuleiman and Wesam Charkawi.
He also attacked Liverpool imam Sheikh Abu Adnan for allowing Bankstown policeman, Danny Miqati, to give a talk in the mosque about domestic violence.
However, Australian authorities are powerless to stop Haleema from spreading his hardline sermons on YouTube and Facebook, where he is gathering a following among young Australians including some of those on the periphery of a group charged over the murder of police accountant Curtis Cheng. Counter-terrorism police said they were aware of Haleema's influence but could do little other than monitor his online interactions.
"This is the problem, a lot of the influence is coming from overseas via the internet," one officer said.
On Tuesday, Britain's Channel 4 aired a documentary, The Jihadis Next Door, in which a filmmaker spent two years with Haleema and his small group of extremist preachers.
It shows them being turned away from mosques and preaching on the streets, where British Muslims yell abuse at them for brainwashing teenagers and supporting Islamic State.
Haleema does not speak Arabic and has no formal qualifications. His videos resemble rap videos, filmed in front of graffiti or in train tunnels and shouted in a fast, repetitive style.
It's not known why Haleema has turned his focus to Australia - however, he is receiving a warm reception.
"He's definitely playing to the audience here," said one Sydney Muslim leader, who asked to remain anonymous. "People follow him because he's so staunch and he's attacking the leaders who are trying to do the right thing."
Melbourne-born IS recruiter Neil Prakash previously hinted on social media that he was close to Haleema.
The preacher was also instrumental in radicalising the 14-year-old British boy who contacted Melbourne teenager Sevdet Besim and allegedly urged him to launch a terrorist attack on Anzac Day.
He had about 7000 Facebook followers until his page was shut down in mid-  December. His fans included several men targeted in Operation Appleby raids in Sydney.
In the video, Haleema attacked Sheikh Shady for giving Australian Muslims a fatwa, or religious ruling, allowing them to join the police, army and navy. He called the sheikh a "shirk", or idolater, for supporting democracy and non-religious law.
"It seems they're all in Sydney.
Sydney needs to be re-named the land of the heretic scholars," he said.
The Grand Mufti has previously lamented the influence of "Sheikh Google and Sheikh YouTube", blaming it for the radicalisation of Farhad Jabar, the teen who killed Mr Cheng.