New Zealand’s ‘bumbling jihadi’ finds little sympathy at home after being detained in Syria
- Mark Taylor said he spent five years with IS but fled in December and surrendered to Kurdish forces
- New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern ruled out offering Taylor consular assistance
A New Zealander dubbed “the bumbling jihadi” can expect little help from his homeland after being captured in Syria by forces fighting Islamic State (IS), Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned on Monday.
Mark Taylor, 42, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he spent five years with IS but fled in December and surrendered to Kurdish forces because conditions had become unbearable.
“There was no food, no money, basic services were pretty much collapsed,” he said from a Kurdish prison. “I was in a pickle myself and had to make a final decision, which was to leave.”
Taylor earned his derogatory nickname in 2015 after sending out a series of pro-IS tweets but forgetting to turn off the geo-tagging function, giving away his location. He told the ABC the bungle earned him 50 days in an IS prison.
He also burned his New Zealand passport in a propaganda video and urged extremists in Australia and New Zealand to “commence operations”.
Prime Minister Ardern ruled out stripping Taylor of his New Zealand citizenship because he is not a dual citizen and so has no alternative.
“We of course follow our obligations in international law regarding ensuring we do not deem anyone stateless,” she said.
