Australian ISIS fighter Tareq Kamleh in Iraq ‘can rot in jail’, minister says
A Perth-born pediatrician accused of fighting for ISIS has said a minister could “rot in prison” after it was revealed he was alive despite being thought dead for almost a decade.
Tariq Kamleh, nicknamed “Dr Jihad”, joined the Islamist militant group when it was at its peak in the last decade.
His family and authorities believed he was killed during the bloody siege of Raqqa in Syria in 2017.
But on Wednesday it was reported that he was among 13 Australian men being held in an Iraqi prison in the hope of being repatriated.
An Albanian government spokesperson told NewsWire that Kemleh will not receive any aid from Canberra.
“The Government has not and will not provide any assistance to any Australian who has made the terrible choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation,” the spokesman said.
“We have made it very clear that for some in this group, returning to Australia would mean facing the full force of the law.
“The safety of the Australian community is this government’s top priority.”
Clare O’Neil, the cabinet minister who was previously responsible for Home Affairs, told the press in the morning that she could not understand how “someone who is a trained medical professional, trained to help people survive, could become a death cult”.
“As far as I’m concerned, that person could rot in prison,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.
The Australian explained Kamleh’s situation after reviewing Iraqi court documents; A report published by Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council in late June outlined his capture, his role in ISIS’s “health department” and his efforts to escape the collapsing caliphate.
The Australian Federal Police have a warrant for his arrest for terrorism offences.
Weeks after 10 ISIS-linked women returned to Australia from Syria with their children, the opposition has called on Labor to ensure Kamleh does not return.
“This is a person who has chosen a caliphate of hate over the Australian people,” opposition foreign affairs spokesman Ted O’Brien told Sky News.
“He’s against our country. We don’t want him back in this country.”
He said Kamleh “betrayed his profession” and “encouraged other people to go and kill.”
“This is not a doctor who saves lives, but a doctor who encourages death,” Mr O’Brien said.
“We don’t want him here.”
