Australia charges extradited IS suspect

Neil Christopher Prakash faces five years to life imprisonment

MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Australian police charged a high-profile Islamic State suspect with six terrorism-related offenses Sunday, two days after he was extradited from Turkey, officials said.

Neil Christopher Prakash, 31, was accused of offenses including engaging in hostile activity overseas, supporting a terrorist organization, and advocating terrorism, police said.

He was charged in Melbourne by a counter-terrorism team after landing in Australia on Friday following his extradition, federal police said in a statement.

The allegations carry maximum penalties ranging from five years to life imprisonment.

Police released a video that showed officers in black balaclavas at Melbourne airport removing Prakash from a plane and escorting him across the tarmac to a waiting car.

Prakash was arrested in Turkey in 2016 after crossing into the country from Syria.

He was sentenced in 2019 to seven years in prison by a Turkish court, which found him guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization.

Prakash was stripped of his Australian citizenship in 2018.

Police have worked “tirelessly” to bring him before the courts, Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Sandra Booth said.

Prakash was arrested in Turkey in 2016.

Authorities estimate about 230 Australians have traveled to Iraq and Syria to take up arms since 2012 — Prakash being one of the most prominent examples.

He featured in IS recruiting videos in which he urged Australians to “wake up” and join the group.

Prakash was described by former conservative prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as one of the “key financiers or organizers” for IS in the Middle East.

Former Australian attorney-general George Brandis in 2016 said Prakash had been killed in Iraq following a targeted United States air strike.

It was later determined that he was wounded but survived the blast.