Exclusive: Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, who left Australia in 2015, is being held in Panorama prison, a detention centre for accused IS members run by the SDFAn Australian member of Islamic State who was wounded in the extremist group’s final battle and whose fate was not publicly known has been discovered alive and in custody in a prison in north-eastern Syria.
Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, 41, who is one of a cohort of accused IS members whose Australian citizenship was stripped and then restored in 2022 after a legal challenge, has been reported as missing for the past six years since the military defeat of IS.
He was encountered by the Guardian – with his head shaved and wearing a brown jumpsuit – by chance during a rare tour of Panorama prison, a detention centre for accused IS members run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
A close family member in Sydney told the Guardian she had learned that Hajj-Obeid had survived the military defeat of IS and was in custody about two years ago, but had received no other information since. She wept as she learned of the Guardian’s encounter with him.
Hajj-Obeid worked as a security guard in Sydney before he left Australia in 2015, telling family he was going on a late honeymoon to Malaysia with his wife, Rayan Hamdoush. “It seemed normal,” the family member, who requested anonymity, said after he had been found.
She said Hajj-Obeid had been religious but had never said or done anything that indicated he was becoming radicalised. “We didn’t suspect anything,” she said. “Obviously now when you look back, you sit there and think, you know, what did I miss?”
The couple resurfaced on what appeared to be a Syrian battlefield, Hajj-Obeid reportedly posting pro-IS messages on social media along with pictures wearing military fatigues and holding pistols and assault rifles. He contacted his family around that time to confirm he had joined IS.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/21/missing-australian-member-of-islam...
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