Australian jihadi Hamza Elbaf found alive in Syria prison

One of four Australian brothers who left Sydney to join IS in 2014 was captured earlier this year.

Hamza Elbaf was thought to have been killed as Western-backed forces conquered the Islamic State's "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria. Picture: North Press Agency.

One of four Australian brothers who left Sydney to join the Islamic State nearly five years ago has been found alive in a Syrian prison.

Hamza Elbaf, now 27, left Australia with his three brothers Omar, Bilal and Taha in October 2014, telling their parents they had won a holiday to Thailand. After arriving in Bangkok they bought tickets to Turkey before entering Syria and joining Islamic State forces.

All four had been presumed dead as ISIS forces fell to the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria.

But Hamza survived and surrendered in March to the Kurdish led Syrian Defence Force in al-Baghouz, one of the last Islamic State strongholds in Syria.

Hamza, who had been wounded in the al-Baghouz onslaught, complained to the Kurdish news agency North Press that he hadn’t seen the sun for months from his cell in a high security prison.

He said he had contacted his devastated parents after three months in the so-called caliphate but rejected their pleas to return, telling them it was impossible to leave as all new recruits were under suspicion and constantly watched.

Hanza Elbaf (Second left) with brothers Taha Bilal and Omarbefore they left Australia for Syria..

He also claimed he had no idea the brothers were going to join Islamic State when they first flew to Thailand, and that the move had been organised without his knowledge by his second oldest brother Bilal.

This claim was given some credence by his father who told The Australian after the brothers left in 2014 that Bilal, then 25, had developed a friendship with a mysterious stranger in the weeks before their disappearance.

Bilal, who was unemployed, began praying with the stranger at a Bankstown prayer centre and would have long chats with him on the front lawn of the house where all four boys lived, along with their parents and sister.

“I didn’t know what was going on,’’ Mr Elbaf said at the time. “If I did I would have stopped him going.”

Hamza’s parents Assim and Bassama Elbaf.

Hamza claimed that, once in Turkey, it had been “easy” to cross the border into Syria in Islamic State vehicles.

He claimed he had not fought on the frontline, and that instead he had been put to work as a cook, paid a monthly salary of US$100 for working in a restaurant known as the “black restaurant” before being moved to Deir ez-Zor, where he worked in public kitchens.

Hamza appeared nervous throughout the interview, North Press reported, and contradicted himself several times.

He denied witnessing or participating in any Islamic State executions but did see some floggings and amputations, which he regarded as “normal,” as Islamic teachings found in the Koran.

He also admitted witnessing the sex trade in Yazidi women, confirming they were sold at high prices to leading members of the Islamic State.

Hamza claimed he had wanted to leave the jihadi group but it was too difficult, and he was terrified he would be captured by smugglers and sold on to other groups.