SINGAPORE - A Muslim activist at the centre of a defamation investigation after sniping at Singapore's policies and leaders has fled to Australia, a report said on Wednesday.

Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff told a newspaper from Melbourne that he had no choice but to leave.

Police are investigating whether Zulfikar criminally defamed Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Muslim Affairs Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, and Madam Ho Ching, the executive director of state investment arm Temasek Holdings.

'I know what the outcome of that will be,' he said.

If found guilty he could face up to two years in jail, and the father of four said that prospect sealed his decision to leave for Australia.

His wife, Madam Shireen Abdul Samad, who has moved to Malaysia with their four sons, aged one to six, said she intended to join her husband in Australia soon.

Zulfikar came to prominence earlier this year when he expressed sympathy for suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and opposed Singapore's support for the United States-led war on terrorism.

'No choice'

He also challenged the Government over its decision to ban young Muslim girls from wearing the tudung or headscarf to school.

'I know what everyone will think. That I have deliberately left. But I do not have a choice at this point,' he said.

Shireen said her husband 'was set on serving a jail term', but the prospect of seeing him in jail had unnerved her, and their families had urged them to think of the children.

The defamation investigation centred on a series of articles he posted on the website of the Muslim organisation Fateha.

'I told the police I took full responsibility for the three articles,' he told AFP earlier this month. AFP