'He's not as bad as everyone thinks': Father of ISIS recruit, 26, who fled Melbourne to fight in Syria begs for the government to rescue his son
- Mahir Absar Alam left his home in Melbourne for Syria in 2014, aged only 21
- He was captured by Syrian Democratic Forces as ISIS began to crumble
- Mahir, now a father-of-two, is languishing in a Kurdish prison awaiting trial
- His father, Jahangir Alam, wants the Australian government to bring him home
The father of a 26-year-old Australian man is begging the government to bring his son home after the Woolworths worker flew to Syria and joined ISIS.
Jahangir Alam said his son, Mahir Absar Alam, left their Melbourne home for Syria five years ago, and is now languishing in a Kurdish prison after being captured during the fall of the terrorist organisation.
He told the ABC his son, who was only 21 when he travelled to Syria with three friends, 'is not as bad as everyone thinks', and wants him to face justice in his native country.
Mahir Absar Alam, left their Melbourne home for Syria five years ago and is now languishing in a Kurdish prison awaiting trial
The 26-year-old was captured by Syrian Democratic Forces as IS began to crumble
Mr Alam said Mahir had lied about where he was going, and the family thought he was heading to Shepparton, Victoria, for 10 days.
Shortly after he left in mid-2014, the Australian Federal Police told Mr Alam and his wife their son had instead flown to Dubai before heading to Greece.
The Melbourne father's desperate pleas for authorities to stop his son fell on deaf ears.
'They said, "no, we can't stop them. They are adults",' he said.
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The devastated father believes Mahir had gone with the intention of helping people but had been brainwashed.
He said his son had only begun to show an interest in Islam shortly before heading to Syria.
'I would ask him, 'I am going to prayer, do you want to go with me?', and he'd say, "Dad I am sleeping, don't disturb me."
'He has no understanding of the religion at all,' Mr Alam said.
The 26-year-old only began to show an interest in Islam shortly before travelling to Syria, and his father says he 'has no understanding of the religion at all'
Mahir married during his time in the Middle East and now has two children.
His wife and children, the youngest born in February this year, are living in Raqqa, and Mr Alam said his grandson had been unwell due to a lack of fresh food and clean water.
He said the Australian government should intervene and bring all four of his family members home - but retained little hope it would happen.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne would not directly comment on Mahir's situation when speaking in London on Thursday, but focused on the Australian Government's 'diligent' work in helping orphaned children of IS fighters who had travelled from Australia.
Senator Payne stressed it was a difficult situation because some Australian IS fighters and their partners had chosen to take their children into 'the most dangerous circumstance imaginable'.
'There is an expectation that Australian officials should put themselves in harm's way to extricate those children, who have been left by their families,' the minister said.
'We have worked extremely diligently, as I said, over an extended period. This is not an easy process, this is a very difficult, very complex set of negotiations in a very dangerous environment.
'We've worked very hard to ensure that those children that we have been able to remove were removed from that dire circumstance to a position of safety and we will continue to work in that way, where we need to.'
Mahir married during his time overseas and has two children. His wife and kids are believed to be living in Raqqa, and Mr Alam would like them to return to Australia with his son
