Dr Tareq Kamleh has licence suspended after joining Islamic state

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Dr Tareq Kamleh, the Australian doctor who featured in an Islamic State propoganda video.

Dr Tareq Kamleh, the Australian doctor who featured in an Islamic State propoganda video. Photo: Facebook

 A young Australian doctor who joined Islamic State has had his registration suspended.

The Medical Board of Australia confirmed the registration of Dr Tareq Kamleh was suspended last week.

The Board had been under pressure to act after Dr  Kamleh appeared in a propaganda video in April for IS spruiking the group’s medical care and social policies.

Dr Tareq Kamleh.

Dr Tareq Kamleh. Photo: Facebook

In April the Board said it was examining the case but declined to comment further in order not to jeopardise its investigation.

On Monday, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website which provides a search facility to check doctors’ registrations had been issuing an error message when the name Kamleh was entered.

A board spokeswoman confirmed the suspension and said the agency was investigating the  error message. 

On Tuesday the fault appeared to be fixed with confirmation of the suspension.

The spokeswoman said the board had suspended the registration after undertaking a three step process which includes a board decision to restrict the registration, an opportunity for the practitioner to respond and then a final decision by the board.

In June the Australian Federal Police obtained  an arrest warrant for the Perth-born Dr Kamleh, who has  said in a Facebook post that he will never return to Australia.

The AFP has alleged Dr Kamleh is a member of a terrorist group, has been recruiting for a terror group and has entered a declared area.

A paediatric registrar, Dr Kamleh graduated from medicine in Adelaide in 2010 and worked in Adelaide and in Mackay in North Queensland.

Dr Kamleh, who now calls himself Abu Yousef Al-Australie published a statement on his Facebook page defending his actions, saying he once loved Australia but the “continous bombing of civilian targets here by the coalition has done nothing but disappoint me of the country I once loved so much”.