Boy who held severed head of Syrian soldier may return to Australia with siblings and mother
An Australian boy who was photographed holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier could reportedly return to Australia with his mother and siblings, prompting the prime minister to warn yesterday that children as well as adults who break terrorism laws face prosecution.
Sydney-born convicted terrorist Khaled Sharrouf horrified the world last year by posting on his Twitter account from Syria a photograph of his seven-year-old son clutching the severed head.
US Secretary of State John Kerry described the image as "one of the most disturbing, stomach-turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed".
Fairfax Media newspapers reported yesterday that the Australian family of Sharrouf's Muslim convert wife, Tara Nettleton, was trying to help her and her five children return to Sydney.
"But the point I want to stress is that criminals will be punished whether they're young, whether they're old, whether they're male, whether they're female, whether they're criminals abroad or criminals at home," Abbott said.
"Criminals will be punished and to participate in the kind of barbarism that we have seen so often in the Middle East is just wrong. It's morally wrong and it's a crime under Australian law and it will be punished."
There is no evidence that Sharoouf, who slipped out of Australia in late 2013 using his brother's passport because his own had been cancelled, wanted to return to Australia, the newspapers reported. Police have confirmed he faces an arrest warrant in Australia on terrorism offences. Nettleton later brought their three young boys and two teenage daughters to Syria, flying with return tickets via Malaysia to hide from Sydney Airport officials their intended destination.
Nettleton's father, Peter Nettleton, said yesterday he had not seen his daughter in more than a decade and had met only two of his grandchildren.
He said he did know the family's whereabouts and would not comment on the Fairfax report.
"I still love my daughter and hope she comes home safely," the father told reporters.
Australia used controversial new counterterrorism laws in December to make even visiting the Islamic Statement movement's stronghold of al-Raqqa province in Syria a criminal offence punishable by 10 years in prison.