Counterterrorism agents in Australia arrested Ahmed Luqman Talib, an alleged jihadi facilitator who was on board the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara in 2010, in late March for reportedly aiding a Syrian terrorist.
Talib “was accused of helping a terrorist arrange to travel to Syria to fight against government forces in 2013,” according to a report in the Brisbane Times.
According to The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), Talib, his wife and sister “were the only Australians on board” the Mavi Marmara – a Turkish vessel operated by the Islamic organization IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation.
The IHH caused international violence on the high seas when it sought to break Israel’s legal naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in 2010. The IHH has links to the US and EU-designated terrorist organization Hamas.
Talib is alleged to have provided support to Jabhat al-Nusra (also known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham) – the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, an entity proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Australian government.
The website of the governmental Australian National Security wrote that “Jabhat Fatah al-Sham adheres to a violent extremist ideology that is anti-Western, and encourages violence as a key element of pursuing its goals. The group ultimately aims to overthrow the Syrian regime and create a Salafist-oriented Islamist state in Syria under its own rule”.
Read more: Jerusalem Post
