An Australian man of Bangladeshi origin, believed to be fighting alongside Islamic State (IS) fighters in Syria, has called on Australian Muslims to “bring the war home” to the west, according to the Melbourne Herald Sun.
Suhan Rahman, a student of building management at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, was born and raised in the suburbs of Melbourne by an electrical engineer mother and agricultural scientist father, both of whom are Bangladeshi immigrants.
In several messages sent to Fairfax Media from a Facebook account, a user claiming to be Suhan said he had joined Islamic State to defend Muslims from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Facebook posts, purporting to be from Rahman, calling on Muslim
Australians to shed blood at home come after pictures emerged on social media of the Bangladeshi-Australian with Sydney jihadist Mohamed Elomar.
Lebanese-Australian Elomar gained international notoriety after tweeting pictures of himself grinning as he held up the decapitated heads of Syrian soldiers.
Suhan’s family has made a desperate plea to their son to return home after the 23-year-old’s father, Lutfur Rahman, alerted Australian authorities, the Melbourne Herald Sun reported on Thursday.
Lutfur said he had been told by the Australian Federal Police Counter-Terrorism Squad that his son’s movements abroad were being monitored.
His father, distraught after learning of his son’s decision to join IS, said: “We hoped that he would never get into this type of thing.
“Everything was OK then suddenly he just left the country.”
Police in the Australian state of Victoria are currently probing threats posted on Suhan’s Facebook page.
Facebook posts on Suhan’s page Thursday said: “I say stuf [sic] the peaceful protests. Spill blood young aussies [sic]. Dont [sic] be humiliated especially if u cant [sic] b here in sham [sic].”
Referring to the recent terrorist attacks in France, one post read: “May allah [sis] accept the french brothers who terrorised france [sic]. Allahu akbar [sic]. Day by day we will bring the war home to you.”
Along with the posts, Suhan’s Facebook page also featured an uploaded photograph of himself wielding a silver AK47 rifle.
Before the student’s sudden to turn to jihadist politics, posts on his Facebook page painted the image of a fun-loving young man who enjoyed Melbourne’s nightclubs, partying with friends, rap music and fast cars.