No sympathy for jihadi Neil Prakash abroad

In his prison cell in Turkey, where he is awaiting trial, Melbourne-born Islamic State terrorist Neil Prakash deserves no sympathy. Prakash, who was picked up by Turkish police after a tip-off from the Australian Federal Police, also faces potential extradition to Australia. His craven attempt to wheedle a Turkish court into believing he was a “new” Muslim whose religious innocence and naivety caused him to be misled into joining Islamic State belied the evil of his high-profile role as one of the so-called caliphate’s leading recruiters of jihadists from around the world.

It also ignores his involvement, through social media, in inciting terrorist attacks in Melbourne and Sydney, including his role in the radicalisation of Numan Haider, who stabbed two police outside a Melbourne police station in 2014. Prakash also cultivated Farhad Jabar, the teenage gunman who shot dead Curtis Cheng outside NSW police headquarters in Parramatta in 2015.

In Mosul, Prakash was an Islamic State “supervisor” who reportedly “lorded it over” hapless locals in a public square as they were subjected to heinous medieval punishments. His pre-eminent role in Islamic State was evident from his naming as a “specially designated global terrorist” by a US government order. He also has been singled out for sanction by the UN.

From his prison cell, Prakash purports to be “sorry for all the trouble I have caused in the world”. But he is no innocent abroad. Turkish and Australian authorities must work closely to ensure he is punished for his many crimes.

Ankara has charged him with crimes against humanity, which could see him jailed for 20 years. Prakash is receiving Australian consular assistance, which underscores the need for the Australian government to persuade Turkey that sooner or later he must be extradited to face justice for the crimes he committed here.

As the re-emergence of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi shows — after erroneous reports he was killed in a Russian airstrike earlier this year — the battle against Islamic State is far from over.