Australian IS suspect back home: report

Australia's first alleged member of Islamic State (IS) was escorted back to Australia on Friday, after giving himself up to Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers in Turkey.

Formally a Melbourne-based nurse, Adam Brookman voluntarily returned to Australia claiming that he was forced to join IS.

Fairfax Media reported on Friday that Brookman said he was injured in an air strike while working as a nurse in Syria, before being sent to a hospital under IS control. Brookman said he was not allowed to leave the IS-controlled territory and never carried out an act of violence.

He said he traveled to the Middle East in order to help the Syrian people, claiming the international community was "ignoring" the atrocities taking place every day.

"I support the struggle of the Syrian people," he told Fairfax on Friday.

"What I saw was Syria being ignored by the international community, I thought I could help."

He said he eventually fled from the war-torn area out of concern for his own safety, crossing the border into Turkey before handing himself into AFP officers.

The AFP confirmed that it was escorting Brookman back to Sydney but he has not yet been charged.

His return to Australia will come under scrutiny, particularly as Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in May that those that return from the war-ravaged area will "feel the full force of the law".

The AFP's national manager for counter-terrorism Neil Gaughan said if Brookman was found to engage in illegal activities, he could be charged and taken to the courts upon his re-entry into Australia.

"If there is evidence an Australian has committed a criminal offence under Australia law while involved in the conflict in Syria and Iraq, they will be charged and put before the courts."

However a source within the AFP told the Fairfax investigation that prosecuting Brookman could prove difficult regardless of his actions in the Middle East.

"The problem is getting evidence to support our suspicions," they said.

Brookman worked as a nurse in the Australian state of Victoria before traveling to the Middle East last year. Endi