The Syria question: Mystery surrounds fate of Sydney teenager Yusuf Zahab after reported prison death

Officials and family seek answers over how Sydney teen Yusuf Zahab lost his life in the Syrian prison after an Islamic State attempted jailbreak.

Yusuf Zahab. Picture: Human Rights Watch

Australian authorities are trying to find out precisely when and how Sydney boy Yusuf Zahab died in a Syrian prison.

Yusuf, 17, was last heard from when he sent panicked audio messages out of the al-Sina’a prison in the Syrian city of Hasakah as it came under attack from Islamic State militants trying to orchestrate a jailbreak.

Australian authorities believe the former Sydney schoolboy, taken to Syria by his brothers when he was 11 and detained without charge at 14, died after the attack in January.

Aid group Human Rights Watch in New York released a photograph of Yusuf with a bandaged arm and head it said was taken during the prison attack, which lasted 11 days and killed at least 500 people.

It is possible he was seen in the days after the attack but no record of his whereabouts can be found and Kurdish forces controlling the prisons say they cannot find him. Authorities and his extended family believe he has passed away, either from injuries sustained in the battle of Hasakah or from illness.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is assisting Yusuf’s family in Sydney.

“We are seeking to confirm reports an Australian has been killed in Syria,’’ a departmental spokesperson said.

“The family has been offered consular assistance. Owing to privacy obligations, we cannot provide further comment.

“Our ability to provide consular assistance to Australians in Syria is extremely limited, due to the dangerous security situation.’’

Australian Federal Police declined to answer questions from The Australian, referring inquiries to DFAT.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil’s office also handballed questions to Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who did not respond.

Jim Chalmer said he hadn’t been briefed on Yusuf’s situation but “it’s obviously tragic news for the family, horrific news if that’s the case’’.

Yusuf was detained with his family following the fall of IS’s last holdout, the village of Baghouz, in 2019, separated from his mother, and locked up with other teenagers.

His last known whereabouts appears to have been a juvenile wing attached to the al-Sina’a prison.

He was a child when he was detained and not accused of any crime. His father Hicham, who was also arrested, was wanted in Australia and Kuwait over allegations he may have been financially supporting IS.

Hicham died from illness in the Hasakah prison system.

Yusuf’s brothers included IS recruiter Muhammad Zahab, who lured more than a dozen relatives to Syria.

After The Australian revealed Yusuf’s likely death in Syria, HRW associate crisis and conflict director in New York Letta Tayler published a photograph she said Yusuf had sent her during the Hasakah attack.

She appeared to indicate the circumstances of his death were unclear.