Alleged Conversion To Islam
During her incarceration, Leslie began wearing Islamic dress and announced through a spokesman that she had converted to the Islamic faith some eighteen months prior to her arrest, although some in the media had suggested otherwise—arguing that her conversion was much more recent and an attempt to win favour in court. However, the nature of her belief remains unclear. In an interview after her release, she stated that she did not "really know what makes you or not makes you a Muslim", and that she was "not a practising Muslim". Years later, her religious beliefs continued to spark commentary, with accusations that she was an "on-again, off-again Muslim model" and that she had "introduced the world to disposable Islam".
The change in dress that coincided with her announcement led to further debate, with Leslie choosing to don a burqa on one occasion when she appeared in court, and opting to wear Islamic dress, such as traditional Muslim hijab, until she was released. Strong criticism emerged upon her release when she was seen wearing tight-fitting clothes without the hijab on her departure from the prison. Once she had returned to Australia, the President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ameer Ali, joined the debate by recommending that she refrain from returning to her former career as "a model for lingerie and underwear", as such behaviour was "not allowed in Islam". In explaining her reasons for adopting the dress, Leslie stated in an interview for 60 Minutes, that the reason she started wearing the hijab while incarcerated was because she was afraid of being sexually assaulted, and to protect herself when she faced the "media scrum". Her decision to wear traditional Islamic dress for protection has since been raised as a defence of sharia law, as it has been suggested that she demonstrated how the "requirement for Muslim women to cover themselves was meant to protect them".
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