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A young Australian man who is facing the death penalty in Syria will be medically assessed for mental impairment after his mother and a lawyer flew to the strife-torn region to advocate for him.
Patrick Stevenson, 20, a Muslim convert from the Gold Coast, is accused of murdering another Australian convert, Abdullah Glen Burgess, late last year by shooting him eight times with an AK-47 inside the dead man’s apartment in Idlib province.
Stevenson’s mother Angela Bell and human rights lawyer Bernadette Zaydan flew to the region last week when it became clear his accuser would not accept “diya”, or blood money, which is allowable under Islamic law, instead of the death sentence.
The accuser is Burgess’s widow, who is also Australian, and who this masthead has agreed not to name because she claims it would endanger her. She is a witness in the case and, according to Bell, told the court she would not accept financial compensation because it would not bring her husband back.
Bell and Zaydan say they do not believe Stevenson is guilty of premeditated murder, and insist he does not know what’s going on now because of his ADHD, serious learning disabilities and probably autism, compounded by a fresh head injury and a months-long stay in prison where nobody else speaks English.
Bell said she had visited Stevenson three times since arriving in Syria last week.
“He is confused. He tells me he does not know why he is here. He has significant problems with his memory… He struggles to concentrate… His thinking appears slowed. There are long pauses. He struggles to process what we are saying to him and has difficulty expressing himself. And he is simply not the same child I knew before this.”
She said he had a large wound on the back of his head, and remembers waking up confused in police custody as they were stitching it.
After a court hearing on Wednesday night (Australian time), Zaydan told this masthead she and an Australian government-appointed Syrian lawyer had made a plea of mental impairment, which had been accepted by the court.
It ordered that Stevenson should be medically assessed.
“His legal team was granted permission to be present at the assessment. Patrick was present, but he didn’t understand what was going on,” Zaydan told this masthead. Another application, to have Stevenson’s electronic devices returned, was rejected with no reasons provided, Zaydan said.
They also negotiated that Bell be able to visit her son daily in the Syrian prison.
Both men involved in the case converted independently to Islam in Australia, then went to live in Idlib province, which is under the control of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group the Australian government considers to be a terrorist organisation.
Bell and Zaydan travelled to the region last week to query the prosecution’s evidence. Bell argued that her son, a former mobile phone technician, could not have confessed to the crime – as is recorded on the court file – because he speaks no Arabic.
Local journalists have confirmed to this masthead that the court hearing the case is a religious court set up as part of the local Islamist administration in Idlib province, and is predominantly focused on punishing foreign fighters.
On Bell’s account, the widow told the court through an interpreter on Wednesday night that the dispute between Stevenson and Burgess that led to the killing was over a small debt of about $10.
In court, according to Bell, the widow told Stevenson he could have the money back.
Stevenson did not respond to her.
After the court was adjourned, Bell told this masthead: “I won’t leave. I won’t leave him here. It’s not right. Who else is going to visit him in jail and speak English?”
“He’s not a foreign fighter,” she said.
“I do truly believe Patrick decided to come here on his own silly self, on a big lark.”
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Michael Bachelard is a senior writer and former deputy editor and investigations editor of The Age. He has worked in Canberra, Melbourne and Jakarta, has written two books and won multiple awards for journalism, including the Gold Walkley.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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