Australian man who spent nine months trapped in a refugee camp in Iraq under siege by ISIS returns home… and is detained for questioning by police

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An Australian man has flown into Melbourne but is being questioned by federal police after he sheltered for nine months in an Iraqi refugee camp from the Islamic State.

Journalist Renas Lelikanm, who has dual Turkish-Australian citizenship, flew into Melbourne on Saturday morning and is being questioned at the airport by Australian Federal Police.

He'd initially been refused a replacement passport on national security grounds, ABC reports, and was left stranded in a refugee camp in Iraq for nine months. 

Journalist Renas Lelikanm, who has dual Turkish-Australian citizenship, flew into Melbourne on Saturday morning and is being questioned at the airport by Australian Federal Police

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reportedly rejected his initial bid over concerns about his alleged links to Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant group fighting against the Turkish state.

Mr Lelikanm, who has lived in Australia on-and-off since 1997, was eventually granted the temporary travel documents last month.

It is an 'enormous relief' that he has finally arrived safely in Australia, his lawyer Jessie Smith told ABC. 

He'd initially been refused a replacement passport on national security grounds due to his alleged links with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant group fighting against the Turkish state

He initially requested travel documents in January but was only granted access in September, arriving in Melbourne on Saturday morning. He has spent the past nine months in a refugee camp in Iraq, under siege from Islamic State

‘It has been a nine-month process, under constant threat and rocket fire from Islamic State,’ she said.

He’d first sought the replacement passport in January when he contacted the Australian embassy in Baghdad. 

Mr Lelikanm was later sent sent a lengthy questionnaire from ASIO and was refused by DFAT in August.

Nine months after his initial request, he was granted the temporary travel documents.

During that time, he'd been sheltered in Makhmur in northern Iraq at a refugee camp which has been attacked by the Islamic State, ABC reported in August.

Mr Lelikanm is convicted in France of having associations with PKK, which is thought to be banned in France and Australia due to pressure from Turkey.  

Mr Lelikanm’s passport was then held in France, when he fled. He has been handed a five-year ban from entering the European country.