ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A judge in southern Turkey has rejected a request to extradite Australia's notorious Neil Prakash, a self-confessed ISIS member, just two months after Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was expected to be extradited to face trial on home soil "within months."
Judge Ismail Deniz at the Kilis court rejected the prosecutor's request to extradite Prakash in a court ruling Thursday night, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on Friday.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that the government was disappointed in the court ruling but would consider appealing the decision later this year.
"We will also continue to follow the case related to Prakash's ISIS activities when the court reconvenes in September," Bishop said.
The Melbourne native has arrest warrants out in his home country for "membership of a terrorist organization", "advocating terrorism", "providing support to a terrorist organization" and "incursions into foreign countries with the intention of engaging in hostile activities."
Prakesh, 27, is believed to have traveled to Syria to fight with ISIS in 2013, where he was known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi.
Senior Australian counter-terrorism officials stated he played a pivotal role in encouraging several terror plots in Australia as well as lone-wolf attack plans against the United States which landed him on a US "kill list."
He has also appeared in several ISIS propaganda videos and the FBI alleges he was plotting an attack on the Statue of Liberty in New York.
Prakesh was caught trying to cross the border into Turkey from Syria in October 2016 using false identity papers and has been held in a maximum-security jail in Gaziantep, southern Turkey since then.
Prime Minister Turnbull stated the Australian government was determined to keep Prakesh "behind bars" whether it be in Turkey or Australia.
"Our goal is to ensure that Neil Prakash is never able to practice his evil trade of terrorism ever again," Turnbull said.
The US intelligence community estimates that some 40,000 foreign fighters have joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria since the extremist organization first declared its caliphate in 2014 in Mosul.
However, it still remains unclear just how many ISIS fighters, including foreigners, have been captured and are awaiting court trials.
