The family of a young Australian taken as a 12-year-old boy to live under Islamic State in 2015 believes he could be released in coming weeks after indications emerging from Iraq that he would not face trial as a criminal.
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he → take → criminal
This masthead has been unable to independently confirm that Yusuf Zahab will soon be released, and can only say that sources close to his family believe it is likely.
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it → confirm → family
Zahab was a child when his parents took him to live in the so-called caliphate in Syria.
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parents → take → Syria
When he was 16, the terrorist regime fell and he was separated from his mother and taken into a prison for men.
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he → fall → men
He’s now 23 and in February was transferred from Syria to prison in Iraq with about 12 other Australians and thousands of other alleged foreign fighters.
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He → ’ → fighters
The Iraqi government plans to put the bulk of them on trial under threat of the death penalty.
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government → plan → penalty
Information now emerging from Iraq suggests Zahab might not be among them.
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Zahab → emerge → them
A source close to the Zahab family, speaking on condition of anonymity to maintain their privacy, told this masthead Yusuf had “absolutely had no agency” in the family’s decision to go to Syria in early 2015, and that, after seven years in prison, “he’s still like a child ...
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he → speak → child
It’s literally like Yusuf who left Australia as a child at 12.”
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who → ’ → 12
Despite his youth, the Australian government has made it clear it will not help him return.
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him → make → youth
Its official position is to regard Zahab as being one of the “ISIS-linked individuals” it will refuse to repatriate.
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it → regard → individuals
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office declined to comment on his case for privacy reasons.
Zahab was issued a passport in January along with a group of 34 women and children who have since returned from detention camps in Syria, so if he was released, he could potentially find his own way home.
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he → decline → way
Advocate Kylie Moore-Gilbert said the Australian government had a responsibility to repatriate Zahab and help his rehabilitation.
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government → say → rehabilitation
Yusuf Zahab’s mother, Aminah, sister Sumaya and cousin Nesrine were all in a group of Australian women and children who returned from Syrian detention camps in May.
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who → return → May
Yusuf’s father, Hicham, remains in prison in Iraq.
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father → remain → Iraq
The source close to the family said they were frustrated with the Australian government, as officials had not visited Yusuf since June, claiming the situation was too dangerous.
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situation → say → June
“We get information in dribs and drabs, and half the time the department don’t know,” the source said, adding that, according to the Australian government’s information, Zahab was still under active investigation by Iraqi authorities.
“They’re trying to get more information with regards to the process itself …
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They → get → process
It really breaks your heart.
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It → break → heart
It’s like, what is our citizenship worth?”
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citizenship → ’ → ?
After the June consular visit, the source said, they had heard that Yusuf was “good”, but had pain in his head and arm from injuries he suffered in 2022 during an IS siege of a Syrian prison where he was held.
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he → say → prison
Zahab believed there was still shrapnel in his wounds, the source said.
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source → believe → wounds
Moore-Gilbert, who founded the Australian Wrongful and Arbitrary Detention Alliance after her own false imprisonment in Iran, said Zahab’s youth made him a victim, not a criminal.
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him → found → Iran
“Yusuf was wrongfully detained in prison without committing any crime whatever, because of who his family were,” Moore-Gilbert told this masthead.
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Gilbert → detain → masthead
“We do not in Australia normally think of children of bad people being complicit in the crimes of their parents.
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children → think → parents
“He was an innocent boy who has spent years in prison and is now a young man.
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who → spend → prison
We have a duty to bring him home and to rehabilitate him and try to bring his life back after God knows what horrors he’s endured.”
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he → have → horrors
The family claims they were tricked into going to Syria by another son, Muhammad, who died in the fighting.
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who → claim → fighting
Six French nationals are currently on trial in Baghdad and face the death penalty.
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nationals → face → penalty
Their lawyers have argued they should be tried in France, saying the Iraqi proceedings are so truncated they are unable to offer a proper defence.
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they → argue → defence
American forces quit Iraq on Wednesday for the first time in 15 years after President Donald Trump enacted a Joe Biden-era agreement.
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Trump → quit → agreement
The withdrawal prompted fears the country will not have the capacity to house thousands of former Islamic State prisoners, including Australians, or that Iran or Islamic State could dramatically increase their influence in the country.
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Iran → prompt → country
Previous mass trials of IS suspects faced international criticism for being too hasty and of extracting confessions by force.
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trials → face → force
In March, two young men – one from Finland and the other from the United States – were released after Iraqi authorities found no evidence of IS affiliation.
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authorities → release → affiliation
More than 450 Syrians and seven Iraqis were also released because of insufficient evidence against them.
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Syrians → release → them
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