An arrest warrant has been issued for a South Australian doctor who appeared in Islamic State propaganda, just the third to be issued to an Australian involved in the Syrian conflict.
Tareq Kamleh has been charged with membership of a terrorist organisation, recruiting for a terrorist organisation and being in a “declared area” – likely the Isis stronghold of Raqqa.
The former paediatric registrar, who has assumed the name Abu Yousef al-Australie, is believed to have left for Syria in March, appearing the next month in a startling propaganda video for the militant group, exhorting Muslim medical professionals to “please consider coming”.
Since the video he has continued posting images from a hospital on social media, including one of an underweight baby, and another with a child’s x-ray.
Kamleh recently responded to media reports he had been a drinker and womaniser before joining Isis, denying “that I have ever taken part in unprofessional conduct which would have jeopardised my doctor-patient relationship”.
“I made a very well-educated and calculated decision to come here, it did not involve any brainwashing,” he said.
“I have come here as there are locals suffering from normal medical conditions despite being surrounded by war, with an overt lack of qualified medical care.”
He appeared to distance himself from Isis’s fighting organs, claiming: “I have no input or responsibility over the political or military actions of the state, if they are correct I wish them progression, if they are not, this is between them and God.”
Mohamed Elomar and Khalid Sharrouf, both alleged to be involved in combat, are the other two Australians for whom formal arrest warrants have been issued.
Legal changes last year allowed the government to declare entire regions no-go zones for Australian citizens. As well as Raqqa, travelling to or remaining in Mosul, in northern Iraq, has been banned.
The Australian federal police said the warrant meant Kamleh would be “immediately” arrested if he ever returns to Australia.