‘Rot in jail’: Presumed-dead ISIS doctor may try to return to Australia

A Perth-born pediatrician who became a notorious Islamic State fighter will face the full force of the law if he returns to Australia, the Albanese government has vowed, as the opposition calls for the man named “Dr Jihad” to be blocked from returning to the country.

Tareq Kamleh, who was presumed to have been killed in Syria almost a decade ago, has been revealed to be one of 13 men linked to the terror group who are imprisoned in Iraq and hope to return to Australia.

Environment Minister Murray Watt said the government faced constitutional limitations on preventing Australian citizens returning to the country as he decried anyone who has made the “absolutely awful decision to join a foreign terrorist organisation”.

Asked if Kamleh will be allowed to return to Australia, Watt told Channel Nine: “That remains to be seen … Sometimes there are limits around what governments can do. But certainly, anyone who returns to Australia who’s been part of these sorts of organisations will face the full force of the law.”

Watt added: “We won’t be providing assistance, just as we haven’t provided assistance to others to come back.”

Kamleh is wanted by the AFP under an active warrant for terrorism offences, including joining and recruiting for a banned terrorist organisation.

The Australian reported on Wednesday morning that court documents show the 41-year-old is alive and did not die in the siege of Raqqa in 2017, as his family and authorities had believed.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said Kamleh could “rot in jail”, adding: “As far as I’m concerned, I never want that person to return to Australia. He’s obviously made a decision to join a violent death cult, and he needs to be accountable for that.”

A government spokesperson said the government had made clear it “will not provide any assistance to any Australian who made the horrific choice to lead a dangerous terrorist organisation”.

“The safety of the Australian community is this government’s highest priority,” the spokesperson said.

Opposition leader Angus Taylor said the government needed to do more to prevent ISIS-linked Australians returning home.

“We have seen over the last week an ISIS bride get out on bail, and now just in the last day or so, we’ve seen an ISIS terrorist who’s living offshore, wanting to come back to our country,” Taylor said.

“The Labor Party needs to commit to preventing that from happening. They have many levers at their disposal.

“They can ensure that this person does not get a passport, they can use temporary exclusion orders.

“We have put legislation in front of the parliament to prevent third parties from helping people like him, terrorists, back into the country.”

Watt said that members of the opposition “know very well that there are constitutional limits around the ability of a government to prevent an Australian citizen from returning to Australia and that’s why more than 40 Australian foreign fighters returned under the Coalition government”.

Kamleh studied medicine at the University of Adelaide before training as an intern and registrar at Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The Medical Board of Australia announced in 2015 it had suspended Kamleh’s registration after he appeared in a slick Islamic State propaganda video tending to a premature baby.

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