http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/aussie-sheik-helps-terror-group/story-e6frg8yo-1226870225082#

A PROMINENT Sydney sheik who travelled to Syria to join the country’s jihadist opposition is offering Islamic instruction, mediation and legal services for banned terrorist group Jabhat al- Nusra.

The al-Qa’ida-linked organisation released a statement detailing the role played by Sheik Abu Sulayman, 30, who The Australian revealed last week had become a senior figure in its ranks.

The statement, essentially a potted biography of Sheik Sulayman, said he had abandoned his religious studies and travelled to Syria after having been moved by the “deterioration’’ in the Ummah, or Islamic community, and by the dire situation of Muslims in Syria in particular. The statement, released via al-Nusra’s Twitter account, named Sheik Sulayman as a member of al Nusra’s General Islamic Council. “Having joined the ranks of the mujahideen, the Shaykh continues his studies and teaching, as well as standing alongside and encouraging his brothers, on and off the battlefield,’’ the statement reads.

“He has also helped to ­establish many Islamic programs, travelling around Syria offering Islamic instruction, mediation and legal services to both the muhajireen and Ansar as well as everyday citizens.’’

Last week, The Australian reported a video lecture delivered by Sheik Sulayman in which the sheik discusses his attempts to mediate a dispute between al-Nusra and rival Islamist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

In the lecture, Sheik Sulayman refers to a personal meeting with ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi which, if true, suggests he has become a significant and respected figure with Syria’s ­jihadists.

The sheik is one of a handful of Australians believed to have risen to senior leadership roles within Syria’s sprawling Islamist opposition movement.

Security services estimate that 120 to 150 Australians are participating in the Syrian conflict, almost all of whom are with Islamist groups such as al-Nusra or ISIS. They are among about 7000 foreign fighters who have flocked to Syria to fight the Assad regime.

The confirmation came as a report released yesterday by the Lowy Institute for International Policy warns the Syrian conflict, along with renewed instability in the Middle East, risks becoming the incubator for a new generation of terrorists. Aside from Syria, the report singles out continued unrest in Egypt as a driver for ­extremism.

It found that, despite three years passing since the last “major’’ domestic terrorism conviction, concerns about terrorism still figure prominently with Australians. Quoting a coming Lowy poll, it says 65 per cent of Australians consider international terrorism a “critical threat’’ to security.

polite_gandalf wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2014 at 9:18pm:


Why? I’ve just read FD’s News Ltd article, and I still don’t know what the "shiek’s" meant to have done.

Not library book theft, surely.

Does anybody know?

freediver wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2014 at 9:12pm:




In Egypt [from back in 2013!], with the MB, we see exactly the same narrative ['motivator'] being expressed....





                       goto 8m 05s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsKFGAtMXLE

ian wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2014 at 10:12pm:


It’s a civil war. If resistance fighters didn’t meet, how could they possibly hope to depose the Assad regime?

The US has funded terrorists around the world for years - some of them state organizations, and some "NGOs" like the Mujahadeen and Taliban. This list goes on and on and on.

No one can afford to be high and mighty in a conflict like Syria. The Assad regime has been on the US’s hit list for years. The only way to topple it is to "meet with terrorist leaders".

Ask Henry Kissenger. This is how business around the world is done.

polite_gandalf wrote on Apr 3^rd, 2014 at 2:37pm:


How do we know this? Tha article states:

Quote:


What's the evidence of this? Anywhere else but the Islam board, journalism is meant to be about reporting facts, not beliefs.

If there's evidence of the above statement, OF COURSE the good shiek will be allowed back to Australia, whether we like it or not. Presumably, he's a citizen. If he's broken Australian laws, he needs to stand trial.

I have no doubt many of these groups are "linked" to al Qaida. Many of these groups are linked to each other, but there are significant tribal conflicts among them too.

Quote:

polite_gandalf wrote on Apr 3^rd, 2014 at 3:23pm:


They normally are. This is the Muselman we're talking about. We have an entirely different standard of proof on the Islam board.

Wishy-washy Western morality, innit. 

What's the law on Australians fighting foreign battles?

polite_gandalf wrote on Apr 3^rd, 2014 at 3:33pm:


I wonder why they couldn't prosecute David Hicks - this was the argument the Howard government used for keeping him in Guantanamo.

As your links show, the shiek can be prosecuted in Australia if there is enough evidence:

Quote:

polite_gandalf wrote on Apr 3^rd, 2014 at 2:37pm:



Ditto.

We agree, gandalf.