IS champion Prakash tries to excuse actions
TERRORIST Neil Prakash has failed in his bid for release from a Turkish prison, having apologised for “all the trouble I have caused in the world”.
The Melbourne-born 26-year-old appeared by video-link in Kilis Court, Turkey, near where he was arrested as he tried to sneak across the border from Syria in October on false identity papers.
Prakash repeatedly tried to excuse his actions as a promoter of Islamic State and a recruiter for them, saying he was a “new Muslim” who didn’t fully understand what he was being taught.
He admitted he had called for attacks in Australia.
“I was a new Muslim and didn’t have the knowledge so when they taught me I trusted them,” he told the judges.
“While I was (in Syria and Iraq), I learned to learn knowledge for myself and when I learned the truth I tried to leave.”
He has been charged with being a member of the terrorist organisation IS and is also accused of fighting against the Turkish state, seeking to bring down the Turkish government and crimes against humanity.
If convicted, he faces a jail term of more than 20 years.
That would most likely be followed by deportation to Australia to face further charges.
The case was adjourned to December 26.
Prakash spent 2013–16 in Iraq and Syria encouraging foreign fighters to join IS or carry out attacks in their homelands in the West.
He fathered two children who could be eligible for Australian citizenship.