Turkish court rejects extradition of Australian terrorist Neil Prakash

Despite a failed extradition request, Peter Dutton says he is happy Australia’s most wanted terrorist is “rotting in jail in Turkey”.

Prakash has been held in a maximum security jail since he was arrested.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says though the request to extradite Neil Prakash was not successful, he was happy to see Australia’s most wanted terrorist “rot in jail in Turkey”.

“I want to make sure that people answer to the crimes that they’re alleged to have committed and, from our perspective there is therefore a desire to extradite him from Turkey,” Mr Dutton said.

“We respect the outcome but if he is rotting in a Turkish jail, that’s fine by me.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government would do everything within its power to bring Mr Prakash to justice.

“We’ll be working closely with the Turkish authorities to see how we can ensure that he is brought back to face justice in Australian courts,” Mr Turnbull said.

“In the meantime, however, he remains in custody in Turkey.

“We will do everything we can to ensure Neil Prakash is brought to account for his crimes.

“He is a threat to the security of Australia and, indeed, of the region. We’ll be working very closely to ensure that he remains in custody and, as I said, is brought to account.”

Mr Turnbull said Australia would examine all legal options.

“We wouldn’t rule out appealing. Our goal is to ensure that Neil Prakash is never able to practise his evil trade of terrorism ever again,” he said.

“He is on charges in the Turkish court, Turkish charges, terrorism charges, so the Turkish government is equally determined to deal with him.

“But we will be working with them. Our job is to keep Australians safe and we are determined to keep Neil Prakash behind bars.”

A Turkish court last night refused to extradite Prakash, paving the way for his release before revoking his freedom before he set foot outside prison.

The Kilis Criminal Court in Turkey has ruled that Prakash must stay behind bars to answer local terrorism charges, and adjourned his case until September 27.

The decision emerged just two hours after the judge ordered him to be released, ruling that Australia’s bid to extradite him had failed.

Judge Ismail Deniz, whoo had ordered Prakash’s release from the Gaziantep H-Type Prison where he has spent the past 27 months fighting extradition, then presided over a second hearing in a closed court and decided that Prakash should answer local charges of committing a crime against the state of Turkey by being a member of Islamic State.

If he is dealt with as a regular member of Islamic State and convicted of those local charges, Prakash could expect to be sentenced to a jail term anywhere from seven to 15 years.

If he is dealt with as a senior member of Islamic State, and convicted, he could expect a jail term of 25 years to life.

The development comes at the end of a chaotic few hours which left legal observers baffled, and convinced an arrangement had been struck prior to the first decision to release him.

Firstly, prosecutors who had failed to make a decision for more than a year on whether he should be extradited suddenly announced they believed there was no reason why he should not be sent to Australia to face charges of recruiting, promoting and financing the terror group and urging attacks on foreign soil..

Following that, Judge Deniz adjourned the court for 10 minutes, then ruled that not only would Prakash not be extradited, he would instead be freed.

The Melbourne-born terrorist, who married two wives and fathered at least three children while in Syria, had admitted being an ISIS member but denied being a leader and said he was just an “ordinary soldier.’’

Earlier, prosecutor Bugrahan Konu said there was no obstacle for Prakash to have his trial in the Australian courts. “We have checked his file and we notice that he has a hostile action by being a member of a terror organisation in another country,’’ Mr Konu said. “He’s been asked by Red Bulletin (Interpol Red Notice) so the extradition demand from the Australian side is appropriate.’’

Prakash embarked on an agitated rant in English, Arabic and broken Turkish, saying all laws belong to Allah and he would not be judged by the court, repeatedly saying “Allah rabbimiz’’-which translates roughly to God Our Lord. Before the judge’s ruling, he was asked if he wanted to comment on the prosecutors ruling.

He replied: “Allah, he’s the judge, I will never be judged by you.’’ He also referred to verses in the Koran, 44, 45, 46 and 47 and referred to an enemy of Allah, saying “he will always be an enemy of Allah’’. It wasn’t clear who he was talking about.

His lawyer Mehmet Alper Unver said there was now no obstacle for his client not to be released, unless there was another case pending.

Is it not clear if a Turkish domestic investigation against him, which is examining whether he committed crimes against the state of Turkey, remains active.

Prakash has been held in a maximum security jail in the southern city of Gaziantep since he was arrested in October 2016 sneaking across the Syrian border near the town of Kilis.

He is facing charges in Australia of being a member of a terrorist organisation and “incursions into a foreign state with the intention of engaging in hostile activities’’. He is accused of being a prolific recruiter, financier and promoter of the evil group, who recorded propaganda videos and urged attacks on Australian and foreign soil.

Prosecutors announced in May that they were investigating Prakash on local charges, and produced a file with a case number from 2016.

This indicated the investigation had been simmering in the background, but was not announced publicly until the announcement was due on whether or not Prakash would be extradited.

Prakash, who recorded propaganda videos for Islamic State and used social media accounts to urge followers to launch attacks, is the most senior Australian Islamic State terrorist to be captured alive and would have been be the first senior figure to be extradited and charged under legislation introduced in 2015 in response to the threat posed by Islamic State, or Daesh.