The Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, today listed Neil Prakash, an Australian citizen formerly of Melbourne, for targeted financial sanctions under Part 4 of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945.
Australia implements UNSC Resolution 1373 on preventing and suppressing terrorist acts under the Charter of the UN Act.
The listing makes it a serious criminal offence, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and substantial fines, to use or deal with the assets of Prakash, or to make assets of any kind available to Prakash, whether directly or indirectly.
Prakash has facilitated the commission of violent terrorist acts. He has exploited social media to spread violent extremism and to recruit others to the listed terrorist organisation Daesh (aka Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL). He has incited others to commit violent extremist acts, including in Australia.
Listing Prakash under UNSC Resolution 1373 is a means of restricting his access to funds and support. It also sends a strong message to anyone who recruits for, or travels overseas to join, a terrorist organisation that the Australian Government will do everything within its power to combat the threat of terrorism on all fronts.
These sanctions are one of numerous actions Australia has taken to counter the threat of terrorism and constrain the ability of terrorists to obtain arms, funds, recruits and other material support.
Anyone who believes they hold an asset that may be owned or controlled by a listed person or entity must immediately notify the Department at asset.freezing@dfat.gov.au and the Australian Federal Police at AOCC-Client-Liaison@afp.gov.au.
Additional information:
The Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 (the Act) and the Charter of the United Nations (Dealing with Assets) Regulations 2008 provide that the Minister must list a person or entity if satisfied on reasonable grounds that the person or entity is mentioned in paragraph 1(c) of UNSC Resolution 1373, that is, the person or entity is:
- a person who commits, or attempts to commit, terrorist acts or participates in, or facilitates, the commission of terrorist acts;
- an entity owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such a person; or
- a person or entity acting on behalf of, or at the direction of, such a person or entity.
Following the listing of Neil Prakash, Australia currently lists 93 persons and entities under UNSC Resolution 1373. Listings must be reviewed every three years. Full details of all currently listed persons and entities can be found in the Consolidated List available at www.dfat.gov.au/sanctions.
Request for a statement of reasons for a listing
DFAT will provide a listed person or entity with an unclassified statement of reasons for his, her or its listing. Requests may be submitted in writing to:
Director, Legal
Sanctions Section
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
John McEwen Crescent
Barton ACT 0221 Australia
or by email to asset.freezing@dfat.gov.au.
Application for revocation of a listing
A listed person or entity may apply to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to have his, her or its listing revoked. The application must be in writing and set out the circumstances relied upon to justify the application. Applications may be submitted to:
The Minister for Foreign Affairs
C/o Director, Legal
Sanctions Section
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
John McEwen Crescent
Barton ACT 0221 Australia
or by email to asset.freezing@dfat.gov.au.
Application for sanctions permit to use or deal with frozen assets
The owner or holder of a frozen asset may apply for authorisation to use or deal with the asset in a specified way. The application must be in writing and specify whether the application relates to a basic expense dealing, a contractual dealing or an extraordinary expense dealing as those terms are defined in section 30 of the Charter of the United Nations (Dealing with Assets) Regulations 2008. Applications may be submitted through the Online Sanctions Administration System at https://sanctions.dfat.gov.au.