A Perth man accused of praising terrorist groups has been banned from West Australian prisons after it emerged he visited a remand jail to preach to inmates.
Junaid Thorne was deported from Saudi Arabia a year ago after he raised the ire of local authorities for protesting his older brother Shayden's imprisonment on terrorism-related offences.
Shayden was granted clemency in February and reunited with his brother and other family members in Perth.
Junaid has since attracted the attention of authorities and media for online videos in which he lectures about Islam while sitting in front of a flag that looks like that used by Millatu Ibrahim, which has been labelled a terrorist group and banned in Germany.
Shayden has rejected media reports suggesting his online comments reflect support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also knon as ISIS), which is believed responsible for mass killings in Iraq.
"Saying such things ... can constitute investigation by government agencies, and will likely put my freedom in jeopardy," he said in a Facebook post.
"I openly declare that I am not associated with any terrorist groups such as ISIS, nor am I linked to any banned associations such as Millatu Ibrahim Germany.
"Our religious symbols, such as those on flags or banners, are not to be taken as exclusive to a single group, nor to be assumed as identification to a network of groups, whether terrorist or not."
But state Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis said Shayden would not be again allowed to visit WA prisoners after he spoke to a small number of inmates at Hakea Prison a few months ago.
"You could be Catholic, Buddhist, Hindi, Jedi for all I care, if your message is going to help rehabilitate prisoners, if it's a message of forgiveness and peace and reform, I think there's a place in the corrections system for that message to be spread," Mr Francis told Fairfax radio on Tuesday.
"If your message is hatred and bigotry and violence, there is no place in a system where I am trying to reform prisoner behaviour.
"I didn't need an inquiry to realise what he'd said on social media on the last couple of days ... to realise he's just not welcome in a prison in WA."
Share
