Australian man Zakaryah Raad ‘died fighting with ISIL militants’

An Australian man who was once convicted for his part in whipping a Muslim convert 40 times as punishment for drinking alcohol and taking drugs is believed to have died while fighting overseas, shortly after filming a terrorist propaganda video.

Zakaryah Raad, 22, from Sydney, appeared in the 13-minute film titled “There is No Life Without Jihad”, which was released on Friday by the militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

In the film, five jihadists are shown sitting in a rural area and holding rifles while trying to recruit people to join them in Syria and Iraq.

Wearing a black head dress and speaking in an Australian accent, Raad addresses his “brothers in Australia” and says that Allah “is bringing me here to this country”.

The words on the screen suggest Raad, who uses the name Abu Yahya ash Shami, died while fighting soon after it was filmed.

Another Australian man also appears in the film using the name Abu Nour al-Iraqi, however his identity was not known. The three other men in the film are identified as British nationals.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted for comment.

Raad appeared in court last year charged over his part in an attack in which a man was lashed 40 times with an electric cord in his Silverwater home in July 2011.

Raad and two other men held the victim down on a bed as he was whipped under the pretext of sharia, or Islamic, law.

The men claimed they were helping the victim to quit drugs and alcohol but, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Australia, the four men were convicted of assault and other charges.

Raad was given a suspended 18-month sentence for that incident, with the magistrate finding Raad was easily led by an older friend.

It is feared up to 150 Australians have fought with radical militants in Syria and Iraq, raising fears that they may pose a security problem when they return home.

In the film released on Friday, one of the British men identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni says: “We are a State who is implementing the sharia (Islamic law) in both Iraq and Sham (Syria), and look at the soldiers – we understand no borders.

“We have participated in battles in Sham, and we will go to Iraq in a few days, and we will fight there, Allah permitting, and come back, and we will even go to Jordan and Lebanon, with no problems.”

On Sunday, US President Barack Obama said he was ”deeply concerned” about the threat jihadists travelling to these war zones posed on their return home.

”There is no doubt the problem in Syria is one we have been paying a lot of attention to over the past couple of years as you see jihadists coming in from Europe and as far as Australia to get trained then going back into their home countries,” Mr Obama said on CNN. ”This is something we have been deeply concerned about.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said Australians fighting with extremists in Iraq and Syria was “one of the most disturbing developments” in domestic security for some time.

Ms Bishop said the government had cancelled several passports of Australians seeking to fight in Iraq, as it had done when it was reported Australians were seeking to join or come back from fighting in Syria.

Source: The Sidney Morning Herald

M. Wassouf