Neil Prakash,also known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, in a photograph from an IS propaganda video. "About what happened in Australia, I was not a hundred per cent responsible. They forced me to call for attacks in Australia [in videos]," he told the court via video-link from the maximum security prison. "All I wanted was to go [to Syria and Iraq] for real Islam." The Melbourne-born former mechanic and rapper, who went by the alias Abu Khaled al-Cambodi in Syria and Iraq, frequently mentioned Islam and "real Islam" during the hearing, and tried to express and display remorse. When the judge asked if he had anything to say, Prakash said, "I'm sorry for the trouble I have caused the world".

Neil Prakash, as he appeared in an Islamic State's propaganda video. Prakash did not deny that he was a member of Islamic State, nor that he had taken part in terrorist activities, but claimed IS had misinformed him about Islam. "When I went to join ISID [the Turkish acronym of IS], I was a new Muslim. I did not have any knowledge of what Islam is. So I believed what they told me was Islam. When I learned more about Islam, I wanted to leave." He also claimed that, when he was fighting, he had sought knowledge about to be a good Muslim, and had realised, "what they [IS] defined as Islam was not real". At that point, he said, he wanted to leave. "I did not tell this to your court before because I feared for my life; but when I wanted to leave, they threatened to kill me," he said, as an Australian Embassy official listened on in court as an observer.

Prakash's defence lawyer Alper Unver, assigned to the case under the Turkish law, told the court that there was no physical evidence against Prakash in the indictment, and demanded his release under judicial control. The public prosecutor said there was a strong notion that the accused had committed the attributed crimes and strong suspicion that he might escape. He demanded Prakash to be remanded in prison. The judge ruled in favour of the prosecution and remanded him until the next hearing, on December 26. Australia is seeking Prakash's extradition to face charges related to a raft of terrorism charges. Australian Justice Minister, Michael Keenan, said last year the government had formally requested the extradition.

However, extradition was not mentioned during the court hearing. The judge drew attention to official documents provided by Australian authorities, which he said informed the court and the Turkish authorities about the alleged IS recruiters' real identity and citizenship as well as the charges against him. The judge demanded the Australian documents be translated in time for the next hearing Thursday's hearing was the seventh time Prakash had appeared in the court in Kilis, near the Syrian border. In earlier hearings, Prakash had lied to the Turkish court about his real identity and country of origin, and presented false documents. He later confessed his real identity, but said he did not want to be extradited to Australia. "He [Prakash] strongly objects being extradited to Australia. He says he is a Muslim and wants to stay in a Muslim country," defence lawyer Unver told Fairfax Media. "He says if he has to be extradited, he wants to be sent to a Muslim country."

However, under Turkish law a suspect can only be returned to their country of origin. Prakash, who lived in Melbourne before leaving to join IS in 2013, is accused of involvement in several foiled Australian terrorist plots. He was believed to have been a key conduit for foreign fighters travelling to the conflict zone. He was also alleged to be communicating with a group of Melbourne men plotting an Anzac Day terrorist attack last year. He was also intercepted talking to a 16-year-old boy from Auburn, in Sydney's west, who was arrested on Anzac Day this year as he allegedly met an undercover officer who he thought could sell him a gun. He was based in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where witnesses say he oversaw some of the cruel and medieval punishments meted out to civilians.