A Turkey court on Tuesday said it was postponing Australian Islamic State fighter Neil Prakash's extradition decision till May, and it has emerged that Prakash has been urging the government to a Muslim country.
Australia has been urging Turkey to sent the Melbourne-born jihadist back home so that he could be tried under Australian law. He is wanted there for promoting Isis and recruiting militants for the group. He is also wanted for inciting others via social media platforms to launch terror attacks in Australia and the US.
Prakash, however, said he has nothing to do with the recruiting militants.
“The charge of being a member of Islamic State, I admit to it, I was,” News Corp Australia quoted him as saying. “But on the other charge of being a leader of an organisation in Australia, that I had nothing to do with.”
He was arrested more than a year ago while trying to cross the border from Syria into Turkey after deserting Isis.
At an earlier hearing, Prakash blamed the Isis for brainwashing and misinforming him about who a good Muslim was.
"When I went to join ISID [the Turkish acronym of IS], I was a new Muslim," he told a Turkey court. "I did not have any knowledge of what Islam is. So I believed what they told me was Islam. When I learned more about Islam, I wanted to leave."
"I did not tell this to your court before because I feared for my life; but when I wanted to leave, they threatened to kill me," he said.
During his trial, Prakash said he was wounded while fighting for the group and had requested to be shifted to a place where he did not have to fight. "I went to Raqqa and was told I had to fight," Turkish-language Dogan news agency quoted him as saying. "I was also made to speak in propaganda videos. I decided to escape after seeing the true face [of Isis]. I very much regret joining the organisation."
