Convicted Islamic State member; called himself "the General Commander for the Australia State" · Greenacre, Sydney, Australia (also imprisoned in Lebanon, 2017)
Pleaded guilty to IS membership, preparing for a terrorist act, and preparing to enter Afghanistan for hostile activity (R v El Matari [2021] NSWSC 1260).
Isaac El Matari, of Greenacre, is a convicted Islamic State member who called himself "the General Commander for the Australia State" and was reported telling fellow persons of interest "we are terrorists." After leaving Australia at 18 and being imprisoned for nine months in Lebanon's Roumieh prison in 2017 for seeking to join IS in Syria, he returned to Australia in June 2018 and was arrested on 2 July 2019. He pleaded guilty to being a member of IS, to preparing for a terrorist act, and to preparing to enter Afghanistan to engage in hostile activity. On 11 October 2021 the NSW Supreme Court sentenced him to seven years and four months with a non-parole period of five years and six months (R v El Matari [2021] NSWSC 1260). The AFP is reportedly considering a control order ahead of his release, flagged around November 2026. The Australian has reported him as a friend of Naveed Akram.
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