A convicted Australian terrorist has bragged about converting fellow inmates to Islam while behind bars, while also complaining about his treatment in prison. 

The man, who cannot be identified because his offending happened when he was a minor, spent several years at Sydney’s Cobham Youth Justice Centre. 

He told his story to the well-known extremist Wissam Haddad in an interview uploaded to video website Rumble on Thursday. 

The man said he had become radicalised at a public high school in western Sydney, through connections with friends.

‘We had a few people from our school that had family that actually went overseas to fight (with ISIS) and that’s when I started researching, Ok, what’s going on?’

At the age of 14 he was arrested at Sydney Airport attempting to go to Syria to join ISIS. 

Police confiscated his passport and the $5,000 cash he had on him but allowed him to go free.

He then left school and ‘locked myself up in my room,’ and said that through his text messages and social media use he incriminated himself.

The man told his story to the well known extremist Wissam Haddad (pictured) in an interview uploaded to video website Rumble on Thursday

Haddad is a fundamentalist Islamic cleric who has previously labelled the Jewish race 'vile' and 'treacherous'

Haddad is a fundamentalist Islamic cleric who has previously labelled the Jewish race ‘vile’ and ‘treacherous’

‘100 per cent I’d say it was showing off and that is completely wrong. This is the message that we’re trying to get across to the youth.’ 

But he maintained that his efforts to promote Islam were correct.

‘My da’wah (inviting people to Islam) I wouldn’t say it was in the wrong way. I’d never want to hope that my da’wah was done for bad intentions. 

‘There was a lot of nonsense and a lot of stupid things I used to do, say like sharing videos. It’s really, really unnecessary.

‘And you need to understand that the kufar (non-Muslims) are always watching you, they really want you to slip up, because they are funding this with billions and billions of dollars and they need to show results.’

In 2016 he was arrested again, convicted of three terrorist offences, and handed a sentence in Cobham Youth Justice Centre in western Sydney. 

‘I was in juvenile for close to three years, and I know and I’ve seen that there are a lot of youth these days that are very reckless,’ he said.

‘If anyone thinks “oh I’m going to go to jail, I’m going to memorise (the) quran, I’m going to become the best Muslim” – it’s absolutely nonsense.

‘Jail in western society is the worst thing for your iman (faith).’ 

The man's offences related to his support for ISIS in the Middle East

The man’s offences related to his support for ISIS in the Middle East

‘Once you’re in the system they will hold you there. Australia is for terror offenders the worst in the whole entire world, worse than the UK, worse than America.’ 

Seven terrorism offenders were held in separate pods in the detention centre, he said.

‘We were all giving da’wah (inviting people to islam) in each of our pods and everyone was becoming Muslim at a very fast rate.

‘And there was a point I’d say that, I don’t want to throw a crazy number out there but I’d say about 70 per cent of the juvenile (detention centre) was Muslim. 70 to 80 (per cent), it was amazing.’ 

When staff at the centre tried to stop the conversions he and his fellow terror offenders carried on ‘giving da’wah in secret’. 

The man took issue with the staff refusing to serve halal meat to the Muslim converts. 

Haddad was outraged to hear of the inmates’ treatment.

‘They tell us we’re living in a democracy and freedom of religion – it looks like behind closed doors freedom doesn’t exist,’ he said, overlooking the purpose of prisons.

Haddad is a fundamentalist Islamic cleric who has previously labelled the Jewish race ‘vile’ and ‘treacherous’.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry is suing Haddad in the Federal Court over his sermons at Al Madina Dawah Centre in Bankstown, which they allege breached the Racial Discrimination Act. 

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