Sydney, Australia - A SYDNEY Muslim leader has apologised for making controversial comments that rape victims had no-one to blame but themselves.
But the apology came as Lebanese Sheik Faiz Mohamad today appeared to insist that rape victims were still "partly" accountable for what happened to them.
Sheik Mohamad, 34, has admitted to telling a lecture in Bankstown, in Sydney's south west, that women who wore skimpy clothing encouraged men to rape them.
NSW Premier Bob Carr today condemned the religious leader's comments and said he would approach the Community Relations Commission to provide him counselling.
But the sheik today backed away from his earlier comments, claiming he had been misunderstood and had made a mistake.
"I know I said something not thinking at that time. However, with all honesty from the depths of my heart I never meant it like this," Sheik Mohamad told the Ten network.
"Maybe I should have said it another way meaning they are attracting to themselves and are partly to blame but not fully to blame."
Sheik Mohamad apologised for his earlier comments and said he had learned from his mistake.
"I've been misunderstood, I am sorry to all the community – to Muslim ladies and non-Muslim ladies.
"I've learned from this mistake; we're all humans we can do mistakes."
Mr Carr said people were "entitled to be upset and angry" about the sheik's comments.
"They've appalled many law-abiding Muslims in Sydney who don't act out his approach to life," he told reporters.
"He does not represent majority Islamic opinion in this nation.
"I will ask today the Community Relations Commission to approach the sheik and to offer him counselling.
"I invite him to sit down with the Community Relations Commission and be counselled on how repugnant Australians find his views, how those views are intolerable in Australia and how we want him to desist from saying anything remotely like them in future.
"If he goes further and says things that could be interpreted as an incitement to criminal behaviour then he will face the full force of the law."
The Community Relations Commission for a multicultural NSW (CRC) "recognises and values the different linguistic, religious, racial and ethnic backgrounds of residents of NSW, and promotes equal rights and responsibilities for all residents of NSW", its website states.