Australian Islamic preacher arrested in Philippines over alleged support of Isis

An Australian Islamic preacher has been arrested in the centralPhilippines on suspicion of links to Muslim extremists and rallying support for Isis militants in Syria, according to police. The Australian government on Saturday officially listed the Islamic State group as a terrorist organisation.

Robert Cerantonio, alias Musa, was allegedly calling for jihad and lecturing Muslim Filipinos to support the Islamic State (Isis), which has undertaken an insurgency in parts of Iraq and Syria. Australian authorities are understood to be seeking his extradition.

Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Banas said Cerantonio and a Filipino woman were arrested in their rented apartment in Cebu province's Lapu-Lapu city. Police and immigration agents raided the apartment on the basis of a deportation warrant, calling Cerantonio a "person of interest to the intelligence community".

Cerantonio did not speak to media while being escorted to the custody of the immigration bureau in Manila. The woman was taken by police for questioning.

A senior police official, who refused to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said Cerantonio was monitored giving lectures calling for support of the Isis movement in Basilan and Sulu, two southern Philippine provinces where Filipino Muslim extremists operate.

The official said authorities were also looking into the possible involvement of Cerantonio in the circulation of an online video showing prisoners inside what appears to be a Manila penitentiary airing their full support for the Isis movement. The video was apparently shot inside a prison holding hundreds of Muslim Filipino inmates, including members of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group from the southern Philippines.

Cerantonio is suspected of using social media to recruit supporters and encouraging Muslims to join Isis, the official said. The preacher's online messages prompted the Australian Federal Police to investigate him for inciting Australians to fight in Syria, the Philippines official said.

Senior Superintendent Conrad Capa of the regional police said the Australian government had co-ordinated with Philippines police to locate Cerantonio, who was under surveillance by local authorities for two weeks before his arrest

"In one broadcast on his website, he called on brother Muslims to join the war in Iraq and Syria," Capa said.

According to Philippines police, Cerantonio has been living in the country since 2013.

Videos purportedly showing Cerantonio's impassioned calls for jihad also have appeared on YouTube.

The Australian government says that officially listing the Islamic State group as a terrorist organisation is a message to Australians intending to join or fund islamic militants in Iraq or Syria.

The attorney general, George Brandis, says Australians who have fought with, or who financially support, a listed terrorist group face up to 25 years in jail.

The new criminal code listing for the Islamic State replaces a listing for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in keeping with the group's recent expansion.

"The Islamic State and Isil are the same organisation," Brandis said in a statement.

"The government has moved to specifically list the Islamic State under this name reflecting an expansion of the organisation's operating area and its announcement of an Islamic caliphate.

"It does not represent a change in the Islamic State's leadership, membership or methods of operation."

Brandis said ASIO had advised that the Islamic State movement was attracting "a large number of foreign fighters, including Westerners" and was now one of the world's most deadly and active terrorist organisations.

"Listing the Islamic State reinforces the government's strong message to those Australians who may wish to participate in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq ... that their activities may be subject to offences with significant penalties," Brandis said.

It is an offence for Australians to direct the activities of, be a member of, recruit for, train for and receive training from a listed terrorist organisation.

It is also an offence to get funds to, from or for, provide support to and associate with the listed terrorist organisation's members.

The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, told reporters in Brisbane on Saturday: "We are determined to ensure that Australians do not leave this country to take up fighting in another country, become radicalised and then return to Australia with these new skills and extremist outlooks."

Source http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/12/australian-islamic-preacher-arrested-in-philippines-over-alleged-support-of-isis