A young Australian doctor has appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video calling on medical “brothers and sisters” from around the world to come to Syria to join the “Jihad for Islam” against the West.
“My name is Abu Yusuf. I’m one of the medical team here. I
came from Australia to the Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS] to
live under the khalifah,” the blue-eyed man with a
distinctive Australian accent states in the YouTube video, which
comes complete with a logo for the ‘Islamic State Health
Service’.
He says he’s a doctor who traveled to Islamic State’s de facto
capital of Raqqa, about 160km east of Aleppo, to offer his
medical services.
“I saw this as part of my Jihad for Islam to help the Muslims
in the area that I could, which is the medical,” the man,
addressing the camera with a stethoscope slung around his neck,
explains.
“I wish I’d come sooner,” Abu Yusuf adds, apparently
shown in the neonatal unit of the Raqqa General Hospital while
tending to infants in incubators.
“After being here it’s disappointing to think how many fellow
Muslim brothers and sisters who are in the medical field; doctors
and nurses, physios and dentists are still living in the West and
unfortunately here the Muslims are really suffering from not lack
of equipment or medicine, but lack of qualified medical
care,” he states.
“So I suppose a message I would want to send out to any brothers
and sister still living in the West who are considering coming
… we really need your help,” the man adds.
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According to news.com.au, the young doctor has been identified as
former Adelaide University student Tareq Kamleh, believed to be
in his late 20s, who completed his medical studies and later
moved to Perth. He had a reputation as a “clean-cut medical
student who drank alcohol and had lots of girlfriends.” But while
dating a nurse from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Kamleh allegedly
settled down.
A former Adelaide University student told news.com.au that Kamleh
had shown no signs of fundamentalism in his college days.
“He was a pretty normal guy, he didn’t have any IS-related
interests,” the woman, who didn’t want to be identified,
said.
Australian Medical Association (AMA) Vice-President Stephen
Parnis said the most influential membership organization
representing registered medical practitioners and medical
students of Australia has been outraged by ‘Abu Yusuf’s’ video.
“The medical profession is distressed by this because
unfortunately it [the IS] does contradict what we stand
for,” the Australian has quoted him as saying in Melbourne.
“What we’ve got is a regime that does terrible harm, that
does not respect life. The notion of working for and supporting
that regime is, I think, abhorrent to almost every Australian
doctor.”
He said the doctor was not a member of the AMA, although this is
not compulsory, and the Medical Board will have to decide whether
or not to revoke his license.
Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek has also stated that
it’s unacceptable for an Australian to advocate on behalf of a
terrorist group.
“I’m sure the full force of the law will be used against
him,” she told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.
The Australian Greens, meanwhile, urge better prevention programs
aimed at curbing youth radicalization. The party says that it’s
hardly enough for the prime minister just to call on young people
not to join the IS.
“It won’t work – it’s a recipe for complete failure,”
Greens leader Christine Milne said in a statement.