A Turkish court has rejected Australia's request to extradite notorious Islamic State terrorist Neil Prakash, a Fijian-Indian and the most-wanted jihadist in Australia, media reports said today.
Prakash, once labelled the most prominent recruiter for the dreaded terror group, was arrested in Turkey in 2016 after crossing from Syria. He later admitted partial blame for Islamic State group terror plots in Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The judge made the ruling yesterday in the Kilis Criminal Court in southern Turkey, two months after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he expected the self-confessed, Melbourne-born IS member to be extradited to face trial in Australia "within months".
In the court, the Turkish prosecutor called for Prakash to be extradited to Australia.
When asked for his response by the court, Prakash launched into an attack on the judge in a mix of English, Arabic and Turkish.
"Allah is the legislator, not him," the 27-year-old ISIS jihadist said.
Reacting to Turkish Court's decision, Prime Minister Turnbull said his government "will do everything we can to ensure Prakash is brought to account for his crimes. He is a threat to the security of Australia and, indeed, of the region."