Aussie jihadist begs for help

TERRORIST Neil Prakash has begged the Australian Government to help him, months after he was arrested for planning and encouraging Islamic State terror attacks on Australian citizens.

The Sunday Territorian can reveal that Australian-born Prakash, 27, has now thrown himself at the mercy of the Federal Government, requesting consular assistance from his jail cell in Turkey.

TURKEY: Terrorist Neil Prakash has begged the Australian Government to help him, months after he was arrested for planning and encouraging Islamic State terror attacks on Australian citizens.

The Sunday Territorian can reveal that Prakash, 27, has now thrown himself at the mercy of the Australian Government, requesting consular assistance from his jail cell in Turkey. He has also fathered two children who are entitled to Australian citizenship.

Prakash’s plea to the government comes after he spent three years as Australia’s most wanted terrorist, recruiting Australian citizens to join Islamic State, providing them with logistic advice on how to reach Syria, plotting terror attacks and urging others to carry out attacks against innocent people in Australia.

The Melbourne-born terrorist (pictured left) also told police in Turkey that he married a Dutch jihadi bride while in Syria fighting for Islamic State, and the pair had two children, who are believed to be in Syria.

Prakash has spent the past 10 months in a maximum security jail in Gaziantep, near the Turkish-Syrian border, after Turkish officials caught him trying to cross the border on October 24.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop confirmed Prakash had sought consular assistance.

So far, consular officials had provided “basic’’ assistance, she said. “If he were surrendered to Australia I expect him to face prosecution for very serious offences,’’ she said.