Off the wire
• Xinhua China news advisory -- May 12  • China, Burundi pledge to dovetail development strategies, deepen cooperation  • China treasury bond futures open mixed Friday  • China Hushen 300 index futures open higher Friday  • Chinese yuan strengthens to 6.8948 against USD Friday  • Market exchange rates in China -- May 12  • Russian Black Sea Fleet doubles maritime mission time in 2016  • Chinese shares open lower Friday  • Tokyo stocks open lower following Wall Street's overnight retreat  • Dollar changes hands in upper 113 yen zone in early trade in Tokyo  
You are here: 　 Home

Australian IS terrorist could be extradited from Turkey "within months": PM

Xinhua, May 12, 2017 Adjust font size:

One of Australia's most notorious Islamic State (IS) terrorists, Neil Prakash, is expected to be extradited to Australia "within months," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday.

Prakash, 23, was captured by Turkish officials in October last year when he attempted to enter the country with forged documents and has been housed in a maximum security prison near the Syrian border since.

Speaking on the Seven Network on Friday morning, Turnbull said he expects the extradition process to occur "within months" pending cooperation by Turkish authorities.

"We have an extradition treaty with Turkey and it's just as well we do because otherwise we wouldn't be able to get him back and ensure this man faces justice in Australia," Turnbull said on Friday.

"We should be getting him back within months but it's obviously got to go through the Turkish processes, but we are satisfied that Neil Prakash, who has been one of the key financiers and organizers in IS, this barbaric terrorist group, will be brought back to Australia and will face courts."

Prakash is likely to be charged with a number of offences, including "doing an act in preparation or planning for a terrorist attack," "providing material support for a terror organization," "entering a foreign state with the intent to engage in hostile activities" and "recruiting for a terror organization."

It is also believed that Prakash was involved with a number of foiled terror plots which would have taken place on Australian soil.

In 2015, police disrupted a plan by a "lone wolf" to kill a police officer on Australia's day of remembrance, Anzac Day, while he was also said to have contacted Numan Haider, who stabbed two police officers in Melbourne in 2014.

In May, the government announced that Prakash had been killed in an air strike. However, it was later revealed Prakash was only wounded and had made his way to Syria. He was arrested in Turkey using forged documents and a fake name. Endit