IS ‘used me’ for publicity, says Melbourne-born terrorist Neil Prakash

AUSTRALIAN terrorist Neil Prakash denies taking up arms with extremist group as he faces court in Turkey charged with offences that carry penalties of up to 15 years’ jail.

TERRORIST Neil Prakash has claimed Islamic State forced him to take part in propaganda videos and recruit members because he was ­Australian.

In his first detailed public statements on how he came to be involved with the terror group in Syria, Prakash claimed in a Turkish court he was “used for publicity’’ by the terror group.

He denied taking up arms during his time in Syria and Iraq, and said he had been forced to record recruitment videos and pose for photographs with a Kalashnikov ­machinegun.

PRAKASH LINKED TO TIMES SQUARE PLOTTER

PRAKASH WAS WANNABE GANGSTER RAPPER

PRAKASH AND HIS JIHADI BRIDES

Neil Prakash has claimed to be a victim of IS in a Turkish court. Picture: AAP

“I went there, they saw where I was from and my background so they wanted to use me for publicity and that was about it,’’ the Melbourne-born 27-year-old told the Kilis Criminal Court.

He is facing local terrorism charges of committing crimes against the state of Turkey by being a member of a terrorist organisation, which carries a penalty of between 7½ years and 15 years’ jail.

He told the court he joined IS after they approached him while in Azaz, Syria.

He had been a member of the extremist group, Ahrar al-Sham, but changed to IS after they told him they “had some Australians who spoke my language”.

He repeated his earlier claims that while he was a member of IS, he had been a “new Muslim’’ and didn’t understand how IS operated.

He went to Syria, he said, because the “people were in trouble’’ and “people were being bombed’’ and he wanted to help. He said he realised IS was “not on the right path’’.

“Yes I was a member but a very regretful member,’’ he said.

He admitted he had tried to recruit new members for IS.

Asked by the court if he had encouraged people from Australia to join the jihad in Syria, he replied: “They forced me to make (the videos), forced me to tell people to come.’’

Neil Prakash in court in Turkey. He claims to be a victim of IS. Picture: News Corp

He said he had been trying to flee Syria to escape IS when captured on the Turkish-­Syrian border in October 2016.

“I wanted to escape ISIS because they wanted to kill me,’’ he said. “Because they found out I did not want to be a member any more and I knew about how they worked.’’

The court in July rejected a bid by the Australian government to have Prakash extradited to Australia to face charges relating to his IS recruiting.

The case was adjourned until December 20.

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