An Australian member of the Islamic State terror group has begged to return residence from a Syrian jail, claiming he “didn’t do something mistaken”.
Mahir Absar Alam, 29, has been held within the metropolis of Hasakah for the previous three years after being captured by Kurdish forces along with his spouse and two kids close to the village of Baghouz.
He’s certainly one of a couple of dozen Australian males who’ve been detained with out cost because the fall of Islamic State.
Talking to The Australian, Alam mentioned be believed it was his first contact with the surface world since ASIO officers visited him in 2019.
“I don’t have any downside with the Australian authorities or my nation,” he advised the newspaper. “I really like Australia and I didn’t do something mistaken in Australia. I wish to come again.”
The previous Swinburne College accounting scholar, who was born in Sydney to Bangladeshi dad and mom and raised within the South Australian city of Loxton, left Australia to hitch the “caliphate” in 2014 after seeing a narrative about Syria on A Present Affair – however claims he was by no means a fighter and solely ever labored as a nurse.
“They had been exhibiting a program on the scenario in Syria and the way individuals had been struggling,” he mentioned. “I used to be watching the present they usually had been calling for individuals to return to assist the Islamic nation. I wished to return to assist as a result of I didn’t have something to do in Australia.”
He mentioned he was prepared to face courts in Australia and accepted attainable jail time, insisting he didn’t pose a risk.
“I don’t have any downside with Australian authorities or the Australian nation,” he mentioned. “I wouldn’t do something to harm it. I’m not harmful to Australia.”
In 2019, Alam advised the ABC he was not going to “come stab somebody with a knife”.
“I’ve seen rivers of blood movement, I’ve seen … harmless girls and youngsters killed for nothing however going buying, nothing however sitting at residence attempting to feed their household,” he mentioned.
“I’m prepared to do actually something to return again to Ozright now. I’ve been prepared to return again for a very long time but it surely’s simply been very tough to return again.
“Individuals want to grasp that we didn’t rape, we didn’t kill, I didn’t set anybody on fireplace. We’re not that majority that’s going to return stab somebody with a knife – we’re not going to do something horrible like that.”
Alam’s spouse and two sons are reportedly dwelling locally someplace round Hasakah, the Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syrian city that continues to be beneath risk from Islamic State.
Greater than 5000 males suspected of being members of the fear group are at present detained in prisons across the metropolis.
In January, Islamic State attacked Guweiran jail with a truck bomb and tons of of fighters, with greater than 500 individuals killed within the ensuing battle that lasted for 11 days.
This week, the household of a Sydney teenager who had been detained within the males’s jail claimed the 17-year-old was believed to have been killed within the assault.
Yusuf Zahab was taken to Syria when he was 11 and had been locked up within the jail because the age of 14.
His household have spoken of their devastation as they plead with the Albanese authorities to do extra to repatriate the greater than 40 Australian kids and their moms who’ve been dwelling in camps for Islamic State households in northeast Syria.
In an announcement, the Sydney-based Zahab household mentioned Yusuf grew up like every other Australian child in southwest Sydney – going to highschool, enjoying along with his cousins and having fun with sport on the weekends.
“He was a cheerful youngster who confirmed care and compassion to these round him,” his household mentioned. “Even within the closing messages we acquired from Yusuf, he requested us to inform his mum that he beloved and missed her.’’
The household mentioned the Morrison authorities knew about Yusuf’s scenario for greater than three years, however they had been unaware of any efforts to help or inquire about him.
“Different Australian kids may also die until speedy motion is taken,” they mentioned.
Save the Kids Australia chief govt officer Mat Tinkler condemned Yusuf’s reported demise as a “stunning and horrible tragedy”.
Mr Tinkler mentioned the information ought to function “a wake-up name” for the Albanese authorities.
“We repeatedly warned the earlier authorities of the dangers to Australian kids who’ve been trapped in Syria for greater than three years,” he mentioned.
“The Albanese authorities should act shortly to guard the remaining Australian kids in Syria. It has by no means been clearer that point is working out.”
A spokesman for the Division of International Affairs and Commerce mentioned on Monday afternoon it was searching for to verify that Yusuf had been killed.
frank.chung@information.com.au
– With NCA NewsWire
Initially revealed as ‘Didn’t do something mistaken’: Islamic State nurse pleads to return residence to Australia