Taylor has cannabis plan for return to NZ
Should Mark Taylor end up returning to New Zealand, he says he wants to start up a medicinal cannabis company here.
Taylor, who is captive in Syria, has been interviewed by a Kiwi journalist from his Kurdish prison cell. Radio NZ spoke to Kiwi journalist Campbell MacDiarmid yesterday. ‘‘He left Isis because he was basically starving and had been reduced to begging and scavenging, so he was definitely subdued when I spoke to him. But at the same time he was still fairly steadfast in his beliefs,’’ MacDiarmid told Radio NZ. ‘‘He didn’t have regrets about joining Isis, he had regrets about how that had subsequently turned out for him later.’’
The New Zealand Government has made its position on Taylor clear; he will stay over there unless he can get to Turkey, where New Zealand has a diplomatic presence. However, figureheads have also said they won’t deny Taylor his basic human rights and won’t leave him stateless.
MacDiarmid said Taylor seemed surprised by that response. However, he also said Taylor didn’t seem to understand the magnitude of the situation he was in.
‘‘He actually said he felt stabbed in the back because apparently he’s been in touch with New Zealand intelligence,’’ MacDiarmid said. Taylor claimed that intelligence had been urging him to leave Isis.
‘‘I think he assumed that once he left, he could expect some kind of assistance to get back to New Zealand.’’
MacDiarmid said he didn’t think New Zealand would be the ‘‘first place Taylor would choose to go’’ if he left Syria.
MacDiarmid also said Taylor was keen to enter the marijuana industry.
‘‘He said he’s interested in starting a business and he’d heard there was going to be a referendum on cannabis and he was interested in starting a medicinal cannabis company of some kind.’’