CANBERRA, Sept. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Around 300 members of Muslim community in Australia held an anti-terrorism summit in Sydney, Australia's largest city, Sunday.

    The summit, which looked at multi-culturalism, anti-terrorism laws and civil liberties, coincided with the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

    The leaders said Muslims condemned terrorism as "un-Islamic" and called for Australians to unite to uphold peace, freedom and understanding.

    The president of the Affinity Intercultural Foundation, Mehmet Saral, said a number of groups are involved in the talks.

    "We have invited community leaders, the Islamic Council of New South Wales and mosques, including the Auburn Gallipolli Mosque, Penshurst Mosque, Punchbowl Mosque and other community organizations," he was quoted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio as saying.

    Saral said the summit is a chance for the Muslim community to publicly denounce terrorism of all forms.

    "The purpose of the summit is to provide a platform to the community and religious leaders of the Muslim community to denounce terrorism clearly and to declare commitment to the shared values of Australia," he said.

    He said Islam is a religion of peace and trust.

    "We hope the general society and governments will display understanding toward the issues Muslims are experiencing," he said.

    However, some leaders at the summit criticized the Howard government's tough new counter-terrorism laws, which will allow people suspected of terrorist activity to be detained without charge for up to a fortnight and have tracking devices placed on them. Enditem