Alleged ISIS Recruiter Extradited from Türkiye to Australia

An ISIS militant who featured heavily in the terrorist group’s recruiting propaganda will be charged with “serious terror offences” after being extradited to Australia from Türkiye, federal police said Friday.

Neil Christopher Prakash, 31, was arrested in Türkiye in 2016 after crossing into the country from Syria, AFP reported.

Prakash was sentenced in 2019 to seven years imprisonment by a Turkish court, which found him guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization.

Australian Federal Police said Prakash arrived in Australia by plane on Friday morning.

“An investigation started in 2016 when the man was alleged to have travelled to Syria to fight with ISIS,” it said in a statement.

“The AFP will allege in court that the man committed a range of serious terrorism offences.”

Authorities have estimated some 230 Australians travelled to Iraq and Syria to take up arms since 2012 — Prakash being one of the most prominent examples.

He featured in ISIS recruiting videos in which he urged Australians to “wake up” and join the group.

Prakash was described by former conservative prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as one of the “key financiers or organizers” for ISIS in the Middle East.

Former Australian attorney-general George Brandis in 2016 said Prakash had been killed in Iraq following a targeted US air strike.

It was later confirmed that he was wounded but not killed in the blast.

Source: Asharq Al-Awsat