A Turkish court rejected an Australian request to extradite a citizen it believes is a top recruiter for the Islamic State group, Australia’s foreign minister said yesterday, in a setback for Canberra’s efforts to prosecute the man at home.
Melbourne-born Neil Prakash has been linked to several Australia-based attack plans and has appeared in Islamic State videos and magazines.
Australia has alleged that he actively recruited Australian men, women and children and encouraged acts of militancy.
“We are disappointed that the Kilis Criminal Court in Turkey has rejected the request to extradite Neil Prakash to Australia,” Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop said in a statement.
“We will continue to engage with Turkish authorities as they consider whether to appeal the extradition decision,” she said.
Australia had been pressing Turkey to extradite Prakash since he was first detained there nearly two years ago.
Australia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper has reported that Prakash was initially ordered to be freed, but was later charged under Turkish law with being a member of the Islamic State.
A Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman in Istanbul had no immediate comment, and the Turkish embassy in Australia did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Relations between Turkey and its allies fighting the Islamic State — particularly the US — have been frayed by Washington’s support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, which the Turkish government regards as a militant group.
Canberra announced financial sanctions against Prakash in 2015, including anyone giving him financial assistance, with punishment of up to 10 years in jail.
The Australian government in 2016 wrongly reported, based on US intelligence, that Prakash had been killed in an airstrike in Mosul, Iraq. It later confirmed that Prakash was detained in Turkey.
Australia raised its national terror threat level to “high” for the first time in 2015, citing the likelihood of attacks by Australians radicalized in Iraq or Syria.
A staunch ally of the US and its actions against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, Australia believes more than 100 of its citizens were fighting in the region.
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