Children are seen on a troop carrier at Ras al-Ain village near Yabroud town in Damascus countryside after soldiers loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad took control of it from rebel fighters, in this handout released by Syria's national news agency
IN PHOTO: Children are seen on a troop carrier at Ras al-Ain village near Yabroud town in Damascus countryside after soldiers loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad took control of it from rebel fighters, in this handout released by Syria's national news agency SANA on March 19, 2014. REUTERS/SANA/Handout via Reuters REUTERS/SANA/Handout via Reuters

The Australian doctor, who joined ISIS in Syria and appeared in a propaganda video, insisted he was not “brainwashed.” Dr. Tareq Kamleh has worked in several Australian hospitals in the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia before he decided to leave the country and travel to Syria.

Earlier in the month, the Australian Health Practitioner Agency, or AHPRA, had announced the Medical Board of Australia has started regulatory action in response to Kamleh’s medical registration. The Australian doctor has since posted his letter of response to the agency on social media in which he denied taking an “unprofessional action” that would put his doctor-patient relationships in jeopardy, reports ABC.

“I made a very well educated and calculated decision to come here, it did not involve any brainwashing,” Kamleh wrote in the letter. He went on to say that since he arrived in Syria, he could not believe the group was described by Australian politicians as “murdering and raping everyone in their way.”

Kamleh said the only kind of death he has dealt with has been from either coalition drone strikes or diseases. He claimed that since being in Syria, no male or soldier has been killed from two drone strikes. “Good work ‘Team Australia’! From what I’ve seen you have more blood on your hands than ISIS has on their knives,” added the doctor.

The Australian doctor claimed he decided to travel to Syria since there are locals who need medical attention in a country where qualified medical care is lacking. He said it was his “humanitarian duty” to help the children and not only those who have blue passports or white skin.

Kamleh slammed his critics who called him a “womaniser” when he was still working as a doctor in Australia. He said if people were concerned of womanising, he suggested looking into every Australian school beginning with the annual AMSA conventions. He officially denied any involvement in unprofessional behaviour while performing his duties as a doctor.

He revealed in the letter that he has no intention of returning to Australia since he has “finally returned home.” Since he left Australia, Kamleh has assumed the name Abu Yousef Al-Australie, reports news.com.au. He used his real and assumed names in signing the letter.

(To report problems or leave feedback on this article, contact: r.su@ibtimes.com.au)

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