00:02Patrick Stevenson is a young Muslim convert from the Gold Coast. He has
00:06diagnoses of learning disorders, ADHD and suspected autism spectrum disorder and
00:13he became radicalised and travelled to Syria late last year. His parents said
00:18they had no idea that he was leaving the country. Now on New Year's Eve Patrick
00:23Stevenson was arrested in the Syrian town of Dar Qush in the country's
00:29north-west after the fatal shooting of another Australian man, 40-year-old
00:34Abdullah Glenn Burgess from northern New South Wales. Now Syrian authorities
00:38allege Patrick confessed to firing at least eight shots from an AK-47 at Mr
00:47Burgess inside that man's home. He was arrested nearby and Syrian authorities
00:53allege Patrick Stevenson confessed. Now it's not known under what circumstances
00:58he made that confession or is alleged to have made that confession. It was initially
01:04treated as an accident. He was then investigated over suspected links to
01:08Islamic State, the terrorist group, but with terrorism ruled out by Syrian authorities
01:14they later charge of premeditated murder and in Syria that carries the death
01:19penalty. The Syrian legal system is quite unusual in that ultimately if Patrick Stevenson is convicted,
01:26his life could be in the hands of Mr Burgess's widow, an Australian woman called Amatullah
01:33Laurie Burgess. Now she has the power to grant him forgiveness and could accept blood money in exchange
01:42for that which is known as Diyah in Arabic. So making an incredibly complicated case even more complicated is the
01:53role of this one Australian woman.
01:56Now Stevenson's lawyers say they have grave concerns not just about his chances of a fair trial
02:02but about his welfare right now in a Syrian prison. Syria's legal system is chaotic, it's fractured, the country has
02:11just emerged from 14 years of civil war and that legal system is currently struggling under the weight of that
02:19pressure.
02:19No Australian official has visited Patrick Stevenson in jail or attended any of his court hearings in order to eyeball
02:28him, to independently verify his identity, to assess his welfare or to monitor the investigation into Mr Burgess's death.
02:36Now we understand that DFAT has told Mr. Stevenson's family that they've received very little engagement from the Syrian government
02:45but here's what the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had to say to News Breakfast earlier today.
02:51We're giving support to both of those families. Legal processes will take their course overseas of course and that is
03:02appropriate.
03:04I feel for the families of the person who's lost their life and we're connected with them and providing support
03:13for them. We're also providing support for the family of the person who's been charged.
03:22So the Prime Minister there saying that DFAT is providing consular assistance to the families of both these Australian men
03:30but we know that the Australian government has struggled
03:33to build a relationship with the new Syrian government unlike the US and France who have held meetings with the
03:39new Syrian president and in part that's because Syria still has sanctions against the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
03:47from which the new government formed.
03:50They've still declared that group a terrorist group and by implication its former commander who's now the Syrian president as
03:58a terrorist leader.
03:59So that places Australia on the back foot here and leaves Patrick Stevenson in jail in an even more difficult
04:06situation.
