A Queensland teenager stranded in Syria after the Australian government cancelled his passport last month has said he feels betrayed, let down and that he has been “painted as a terrorist” by the authorities.

In an interview with Muslim media outlet One Path Network, 19-year-old Oliver Bridgeman maintained that he was only in Syria to do humanitarian work and to deliver aid supplies to refugee camps and to children.

Bridgeman has been in Syria since at least May last year, and frequently posts public messages and photos to his Facebook page in which he claims to be distributing medical supplies, food and basic life essentials to rural locations near the Turkish border with Syria. He has also posted that he is not involved with any terrorist organisation.

Bridgeman told the radio station that he had seen the assessment on why his passport was cancelled and described it as “absolutely ridiculous”.

“Basically, it had something to do with my aid work,” he said.

“When I looked at the claims it was kind of a big joke, I had to laugh at myself. I had no idea why they did this. They basically stated [it was] for humanitarian reasons and also at the end they included that they thought I was going to participate in political violence, which is obviously not true.

“I’ve been strictly doing humanitarian work.”

He also said the assessment cited his Facebook page.

Bridgeman said he believed the Australian government and security agencies had “double standards,” citing the case of Ashley Dyball, also from Queensland, who ignored federal government warnings and travelled to Syria in May to fight against Isis. Dyball returned to Australia in December and, after several hours of questioning by police, was released without charge.

“Obviously I felt betrayed because I felt it is double standards. Is it because I’m Muslim? They painted everyone who came to Syria with the same brush, that we’re all terrorists, but obviously that is not the case. Obviously I feel let down, I feel like this is not right, I feel I’ve been a victim.”



He said he had been prepared to return home and face questioning by police, and that he wanted to “cooperate fully” with the Australian authorities when that occurred.

“I had nothing to hide,” he said.

Earlier this month, Australian federal police obtained an arrest warrant for Bridgeman, delivering it to his parents home.

Bridgeman urged the Australian Muslim community to come together to spread awareness of his situation, and asked for funding through donations to Syrian charities.

On Sunday night the current affairs program, 60 Minutes, will air an interview with Bridgeman and his parents. Bridgeman said his parents also felt betrayed by his passport cancellation.

The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has previously defended the government’s decision to cancel that passports of Australians travelling into conflict zones in the middle east. Last month, he told the ABC: “It puts our own military staff and personnel at risk, it can have devastating consequences on families”.

“People who go off into conflict zones — even if they’re well intentioned — ultimately can cause significant grief and stress for their own families,” he said.

“This is something people should contemplate before they go — not when they’re in the middle of a conflict zone.”

Bridgeman’s solicitor, Alex Jones, told Guardian Australia after the issuing of Bridgeman’s arrest warrant earlier this month that the government had “stranded him, and now he can’t legally get out of Syria because he doesn’t have a passport”.

“The government have already said they’re not going to help him and now they’ve issued an arrest warrant for him,” he said.

“If they had left him alone he’d be home already [to face AFP questioning].

“It’s just bizarre. It makes no sense.”