A charge has been laid against a New Zealand citizen who allegedly travelled overseas to join a terrorist organisation.

Mark John Taylor, also known as Mohammed Daniel, was charged under the Terrorism Suppression Act this morning.

Charging documents filed in the Wellington District Court state he’s being accused of participating in a group in Syria, namely the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) between November 29, 2014 and December 24, 2018.

It said he’s believed to have joined the groups “for the purpose of enhancing the ability of ISIL to carry out or participate in the carrying out of one or more terrorist acts, namely acts intended to cause in any one or more countries the death of or serious bodily injury to one or more persons, and carried out for the purpose of advancing an ideological, political or religious cause with the intention of inducing terror in a civilian population, knowing or being reckless whether ISIL is a designated terrorist identify.”

He faces a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment.

In November 2023, the New Zealand Police confirmed that it was understood Taylor was still imprisoned in Syria.

Now the police’s director national security, Detective Superintendent Sean Hansen, has confirmed police think he is still overseas.

”The charge relates to alleged participation in the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to enhance their ability to carry out or participate in terrorist acts, in one or more countries,” Hansen said.

”The police investigation, which spans more than 10 years, is continuing and police recently received Crown Law approval to prosecute.

”He remains a New Zealand citizen and should he return to New Zealand, he will be brought to justice for his alleged involvement with a designated terrorist organisation.

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“Police are not seeking extradition, however in the event he wishes to return to NZ, this will provide an appropriate mechanism to manage his return.”

It’s understood Taylor was captured by Kurdish forces in northern Syria in early 2019.

In 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the circumstances of foreign terrorist fighters detained in Syria are extremely complex.

“As New Zealand does not have a diplomatic presence in Syria, the ability of the Government to assist citizens is severely limited and it is very difficult to get clear information,” it said.

Who is Mark John Taylor?

Taylor was raised in Hamilton and has also been known as Mohammed Daniel and Abu Abdul Rahman.

He travelled from New Zealand to Syria in 2014 to join Islamic State.

The same year, he posted a photo online of his burnt New Zealand passport and declared he was on “a one-way trip” with no intention of returning home.

Earlier in 2009, he had tried to gain access to an al-Qaeda stronghold close to the Afghanistan border but was arrested by Pakistan authorities. The New Zealand Government subsequently subjected him to travel restrictions.

He left New Zealand again in 2012 and worked in Indonesia for two years as an English teacher before entering Syria across the Turkish border “as a soldier for Allah”.

In 2015, the US Government declared Taylor a global terrorist after he encouraged attacks in Australia and New Zealand and appeared in an IS propaganda video.

Taylor earned the moniker of the “bumbling jihadi” after mistakenly revealing the location of Isis fighters on Twitter after failing to turn off a tracking function on his phone.

He deleted 45 posts on the social media website after they apparently showed he was with Isis in Kafar Roma. He apparently spent 50 days in an IS prison over the incident.

Earlier, while in war-ravaged Aleppo, Taylor claimed to have been in touch with the New Zealand Government in a bid to get a new passport after burning his last one.

Captured in Syria 

In early 2019, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported he had been captured and imprisoned by Kurdish forces.

Taylor told the ABC he had surrendered to Kurdish forces because life had become “unbearable” and that he “was in a pickle”.

“There was no food, no money, basic services were pretty much collapsed,” he said.

Taylor claimed he lived with the extremist group for five years as a guard, not a fighter and joining the group wasn’t what he had anticipated.

He told the ABC that during his time with the Islamic State, he witnessed a number of beheadings and executions.

“They had a lady they took out of a truck and shot her in the back of the head. There was a big crowd gathering around. I asked, ‘what’s going on?’ but no-one answered,” he said.

“The other time I was living in Soussa, they had someone crucified with a sign around his neck, but I didn’t know [what it read]. I couldn’t understand the Arabic.”

He also complained about not being able to afford a female slave, saying it cost about US$4,000 ($6900) to “buy an older woman” and to “buy a decent one” would cost at least US$10,000 or US$20,000.

Terrorism charges

When Taylor re-emerged in 2019 after speaking to an ABC journalist from behind bars, then Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern said he was “our problem, we have to accept that”.

Given Taylor only has New Zealand citizenship, revoking it would make him stateless.

While Ardern said the Government would make no effort to get him back to New Zealand, she said “if he were to find his way to Turkey and seek a temporary travel document, New Zealand cannot make him someone else’s problem”.

In 2019, the Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill was passed into law with the intention of keeping the New Zealand public safe if a person involved in terrorism-related activities overseas returns to the country.

Then Justice Minister Andrew Little said of the legislation that it was “designed to prevent terrorism and support de-radicalisation in a way that is consistent with New Zealand’s human rights laws.”

Additional reporting Catherine Hutton.

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