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 ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' 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. 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; 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. 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. In 2010, he was a national finalist as ''

Australia's Local Hero The Local Hero AwardAustralian of the Year awardees
, accessed 23 January 2012 is a p ...

'' for the

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...

. Subsequently in January 2015 he was chosen by ''

'' newspaper as its alternate Australian of the Year. When he was announced as the winner, he was praised by senior politician

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for t ...

who said that Rifi is a "great Australian". In October 2015, Rifi was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. UC ...

. In 2017, Rifi was awarded a Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

. In 2021, Rifi was sentenced in absentia to 10 years imprisonment by the Lebanese military tribunal for "collaborating with Israel" through his work with Project Rozana, which helps provide medical training for Palestinian medical workers and helps organise the transfer of Palestinian patients to hospitals in Israel. Rifi blamed this on the "corrupt" Lebanese government, and more specifically,

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

. He is the brother of Lebanese politician

Ashraf Rifi Ashraf Rifi ( ar, أشرف ريفي; also spelled Achraf Rifi) (born 1 April 1954) was the general director of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF; the national police) from 2005 to 2013. He served as minister of justice from 15 February ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rifi, Jamal 1959 births Australian general practitioners Australian Muslims Lebanese emigrants to Australia Lebanese Sunni Muslims Living people Medical doctors from Sydney

Biography

See also

References