- Australian man claiming to have joined ISIS has contacted a Sydney activist on Twitter.
- A vocal critic of ISIS in Australia, Zaky Mallah, engaged in a Twitter conversation with 'Abu Abdullah' who claims to be fighting with ISIS in Iraq.
- After monitoring Abdullah's Twitter account Mr Mallah has found threats directed towards the Australian Federal Police.
- He discovered that Abdullah's real name may be Jake and he has made contact with a friend he knew at Melbourne's Hume Islam Youth Centre.
- 'He’s clearly creating a network of people he knows in Australia,’ Mr Mallah said:
A Melbourne
man claiming to be fighting for ISIS in Iraq has tweeted a threat on
social media to the Australian Federal Police and vowed to carry out a
fatwa on Australia.
Zaky
Mallah, the first person charged with terrorism in Australia was
contacted on Christmas Eve by a man on Twitter using the name Abu
Abdullah.
Mr Mallah, 30, from Westmead in Sydney was jailed in maximum security for two years before being acquitted of terrorism charges. Just four hours into the Sydney siege counter terrorism police also asked him for an ISIS flag to help with their investigations.
As
a moderate Mr Mallah is now a very vocal critic of ISIS in
Australia. It was because of this that he was contacted by Abdullah who
he now believes is from Melbourne. Abdullah began tweeting him questions
asking why he was against ISIS. Since then Mr Mallah has been
monitoring Abdullah's other Twitter conversations.
‘What struck
me the most was that some of things he said on Twitter were very
disturbing and he also commented on the Australian Federal Police’s
Twitter account calling them ‘dogs’,’ Mr Mallah said.
‘What
I think I have have learned from his conversations on Twitter with me
and others is that he is an Australian called Jake who used to live in
Melbourne. He’s already tried to make contact on Twitter with a friend
of his at the Hume Islam Youth Centre (HIYC) in Melbourne.
On Christmas Day he let his friend know he was in Ramadi in Iraq
On Christmas Eve ‘Abdullah’ tweeted a friend: ‘Remember me? Revert at hiyc, tall, white, skinny, long hair, we used to speak on Facebook.’ When his friend replied that he remembered him, Abdullah said: ‘I finally made hijra in August, I’m in Ramadi now.’ Ramadi is a city in central Iraq.
Later
on Christmas Day Abdullah tweeted: ‘That’s twice now I’ve seriously
considered coming back and following Sheikh Adnani’s fatwa in
Australia.’ Shaykh Abu Mohammad al-Adnani al-Shami is the official
spokesman and a senior leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant.
Abdullah tweets that he would only be too happy to see a fatwa take place in Australia
On
Boxing Day he replied to a tweet posted by the Australian Federal
Police about two men who had charged by the Joint Terrorism Team in
Sydney saying: ‘Keep going, Martin Place was just the beginning for you
dogs.’
The police are taunted by Abdullah after they reveal that the Joint Counter Terrorism Squad had made arrests
While in another tweet he admitted to a friend he had been banned from Facebook for things he had written.
‘This
guy is serious enough to leave Australia and join ISIS so all the signs
are there. It’s a new Twitter account. We don’t know what he’s up to
but through Twitter he’s clearly creating a network of people he knows
in Australia,’ Mr Mallah said.
Security in Australia has been raised as the threat of ISIS attacks becomes more worrying
In
response to the revelations a spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s
Department said they would continue to do all they can to support
community leaders, who play 'a critical role in dissuading young
Australians from becoming radicalised and travelling to the conflict
zones to fight.'
'The
government is committed to working with our communities to combat the
radicalisation of young Australians and violent extremism. We have
consulted with experts and with representatives of the community on the
best way to keep the Australian community safe,' the spokesperson said.
Mr Mallah, 30, from Westmead in Sydney was jailed in maximum security for two years before being acquitted of terrorism charges
In
2003 Mr Mallah was the first person to be charged with terrorism back
after he made a video which Federal Police and ASIO said contained a
planned suicide attack on federal government offices in Sydney.
A
Lebanese Australian, Mr Mallah was charged under Australia's then new
anti-terrorism laws after he made the video. He spent two years in the
high maximum security Multi Purpose Unit at Goulburn prison awaiting
trial, before being acquitted.
Since
the rise of ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra he has become very outspoken
against them. Today he sees them only as 'a barbaric cult' .
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