An Australian member of Islamic State who was wounded within the extremist group’s ultimate battle and whose destiny was not publicly recognized has been found alive and in custody in a jail in north-eastern Syria.
Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, 41, who’s certainly one of a cohort of accused IS members whose Australian citizenship was stripped after which restored in 2022 after a authorized problem, has been reported as lacking for the previous six years for the reason that army defeat of IS.
He was encountered by the Guardian – along with his head shaved and carrying a brown jumpsuit – by probability throughout a uncommon tour of Panorama jail, a detention centre for accused IS members run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Permitted to talk for only some minutes by way of a small grate in a cell housing about two dozen males, Hajj-Obeid instructed the Guardian he had no concept if his household in Australia have been conscious he had survived. “I actually don’t know,” he mentioned. “I do know nothing, severely.”
He admitted to having been an IS member however mentioned he deeply regretted his actions. “I’ve been right here for six years and it’s been traumatising,” he mentioned, the cell flooring behind him lined with skinny, gray sleeping mats and what seemed to be plastic kids’s cutlery. “Many individuals died, it’s been overwhelming.”
About 4,500 suspected IS fighters are being held within the “black gap” facility within the desert metropolis of Hasakah indefinitely and with out cost. Prisoners are permitted outdoors to train for 45 minutes every day however reside in crowded, stifling situations which have led to common, untreated tuberculosis outbreaks.
Hajj-Obeid mentioned he left Australia in 2015, claiming he was motivated to journey to Syria “to assist”. “It was the state of affairs in Syria, Bashar [al-Assad, the former Syrian president], the killing, the drama,” he mentioned.
“I had Fb at house and I might sit and clearly, visit cyberspace, see what’s occurring. Actually at the moment I noticed the state of affairs, however I didn’t decide it properly.
“I got here and acquired caught in a quagmire, I didn’t know methods to get out,” he mentioned. “I attempted to get out just a few occasions, a variety of occasions, and I couldn’t get out.”
An in depth member of the family in Sydney instructed the Guardian she had realized that Hajj-Obeid had survived the army defeat of IS and was in custody about two years in the past, however had obtained no different data since. She wept as she realized of the Guardian’s encounter with him.
Hajj-Obeid labored as a safety guard in Sydney earlier than he left Australia in 2015, telling household he was occurring a late honeymoon to Malaysia along with his spouse, Rayan Hamdoush. “It appeared regular,” the member of the family, who requested anonymity, mentioned after he had been discovered.
She mentioned Hajj-Obeid had been non secular however had by no means mentioned or performed something that indicated he was turning into radicalised. “We didn’t suspect something,” she mentioned. “Clearly now if you look again, you sit there and suppose, , what did I miss?”
The couple resurfaced on what seemed to be a Syrian battlefield, Hajj-Obeid reportedly posting pro-IS messages on social media together with footage carrying army fatigues and holding pistols and assault rifles. He contacted his household round that point to substantiate he had joined IS.
“We didn’t hear from him for a very long time after that,” the shut member of the family mentioned. “He’d contact his mum greater than his sister or brother, nevertheless it was all the time very brief. Many occasions his mum would suppose he was most likely useless due to how minimal the contact was.”
She mentioned the household was by no means contacted by Australian safety companies and had no concept of Hajj-Obeid’s welfare because the warfare between IS and a US-led coalition grew in depth by way of 2015 and the next years.
“It was horrible,” the member of the family mentioned. “You’re simply continually residing on edge. Like, what am I going to listen to tomorrow? What am I going to see tomorrow? It was simply continually residing in worry.”
Hajj-Obeid and his spouse moved with IS as its so-called “caliphate” shrank from 34,000 sq miles at its peak to a single Syrian metropolis, Baghuz, on the financial institution of the Euphrates, the place the group’s most loyal fighters and supporters held a bloody final stand. IS was declared defeated in March 2019 when the SDF took management of the town, detaining tens of hundreds of suspected IS fighters, their wives and kids.
Hajj-Obeid sustained shrapnel accidents to his again through the ultimate battle, which his household mentioned occurred whereas he was making an attempt to get his spouse to security.
“[Hajj-Obeid] spoke to us perhaps the few days earlier than [the defeat],” the member of the family mentioned. “He wished to offer himself up, however on the identical time he didn’t know what was going to occur.”
The household heard nothing about him for the almost 4 years that adopted till they have been contacted by the Crimson Cross round early 2023 and realized he was alive, “in affordable well being”, and being held by Kurdish-led forces.
His spouse, Hamdoush, had given herself up in March 2019 and was detained in a jail camp for IS-linked ladies and kids. A couple of weeks after her arrest, she realized she was pregnant. She gave start to a child boy within the al-Hawl camp in November 2019. Hajj-Obeid’s household imagine he’s not conscious he has a toddler.
The Australian authorities stripped Hajj-Obeid of his nationality in 2019, claiming he was eligible for Lebanese citizenship, however was pressured to reverse the choice after a profitable excessive court docket problem by one other man detained in Syria for his connections to IS. Hajj-Obeid has no lawyer and is unlikely to know of the authorized wrangling round his case.
The member of the family mentioned she solely glanced on the letter restoring his citizenship earlier than stashing it away. “I’ve type of misplaced hope,” she mentioned. “It doesn’t imply they’re going to convey him again.”
The Australian authorities has repatriated 4 ladies and 21 kids from detention camps in Syria. A minimum of 42 Australians – together with 11 ladies and 31 kids – are nonetheless being held with out cost, together with Hamdoush and her son. The now five-year-old boy has not obtained a DNA take a look at to be formally recognised as her baby and is due to this fact not but eligible for Australian citizenship.
A minimum of a dozen Australian males are recognized to be detained in prisons throughout the area and – regardless of calls from the US and the SDF for international nations to repatriate their residents – there may be little urge for food among the many Australian authorities or public for his or her return.
“I do know [Hajj-Obeid] has to face the justice system,” his member of the family mentioned. “If he had a 10-year or 15-year sentence, you’d at the least know when his time can be up. However we don’t know if he’ll be there for the remainder of his life. He’s simply caught in limbo.
“A minimum of being in an Australian jail, you might go to him – know the place he’s.”
Requested whether or not he had a message for his household, Hajj-Obeid appeared near tears. “To my mom that I like her, and to forgive me,” he mentioned.
“My sister, my brother, my father. I like all of them very a lot and I hope to see them quickly. My spouse within the camp, I like her very a lot and I ask her to forgive me for what I put her by way of and what I put my household by way of.”
As he spoke, a guard in a balaclava and carrying a membership slammed the hatch on his cell shut, sealing him off once more.
Further reporting by Baderkhan Ahmad
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