Overview

Mark Taylor, a.k.a. Muhammad Daniel and Abu Abdul-Rahman, is a foreign fighter for ISIS from New Zealand. Media dubbed the U.S.-designated Taylor the “bumbling jihadist” after he accidently tweeted out his location in Syria multiple times in 2014. Taylor fled ISIS-held territory in December 2018 and surrendered to Kurdish forces. He remains in a Kurdish prison in Syria while New Zealand debates whether to bring him back and how to treat returning foreign fighters.Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382.

Taylor was raised in Hamilton, New Zealand. According to an unidentified relative, he suffered brain damage at the age of 2 after a “major fit with teething.”“Jailed Kiwi jihadist Mark Taylor suffered brain damage as a child, relative says,” 1 News, March 5, 2019, https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/jailed-kiwi-jihadist-mark-taylor-suffered-brain-damage-child-relative-says?variant=tb_v_1. Taylor converted to Islam and radicalized in New Zealand listening to sermons by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Taylor was reportedly living in his truck when he began visiting a mosque in Hamilton. Mosque leaders told the Associated Press they tried to help Taylor, but he insisted on remaining in his truck. They did not note any other radical behavior from Taylor.Associated Press, “From Minnesota to Melbourne, Islamic State draws motley crew,” Times of Israel, May 21, 2015, https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-minnesota-to-melbourne-islamic-state-draws-motley-crew/.

In 2009, he traveled to Yemen to visit New Zealand foreign fighter Daryl Jones, a.k.a. Muslim bin John. Jones was later killed in a November 2013 drone strike in Yemen alongside Australian militant Christopher Harvard while fighting for al-Qaeda.Kurt Bayer, “Kiwi jihadist wants to leave Syria,” New Zealand Herald, September 16, 2014, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325784; Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382. Taylor was arrested in Waziristan, Pakistan, later that year while trying to access al-Qaeda and Taliban training facilities. He told authorities he was there to find a bride and he was released.Associated Press, “From Minnesota to Melbourne, Islamic State draws motley crew,” Times of Israel, May 21, 2015, https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-minnesota-to-melbourne-islamic-state-draws-motley-crew/. Taylor returned to New Zealand, where he was subjected to travel restrictions. Taylor had lived in Australia on and off for 25 years, but the country canceled his visa in 2010 after determining he was a security risk.Kurt Bayer, “Kiwi jihadist wants to leave Syria,” New Zealand Herald, September 16, 2014, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325784; Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382. According to diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks, Australian authorities called for Taylor to be placed on a terrorism watch list because of his “demonstrated connections” with Awlaki.Associated Press, “From Minnesota to Melbourne, Islamic State draws motley crew,” Times of Israel, May 21, 2015, https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-minnesota-to-melbourne-islamic-state-draws-motley-crew/.

New Zealand issued Taylor a new passport in 2011, but he remained under travel restrictions. Nonetheless, Taylor moved to Indonesia in May 2012. He stayed for two years and worked as an English teacher.Kurt Bayer, “Kiwi jihadist wants to leave Syria,” New Zealand Herald, September 16, 2014, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325784. In June 2014, Taylor left for Syria. That month, he posted a picture of his burnt passport to Facebook and declared he would never return to New Zealand.Michael Safi, “New Zealander thought to be fighting in Syria accidentally tweets locations,” Guardian (London), January 1, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/01/new-zealander-syria-isis-accidentally-tweets-locations; Kurt Bayer, “Kiwi jihadist wants to leave Syria,” New Zealand Herald, September 16, 2014, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325784. In September 2014, however, Taylor posted to Facebook that he wanted to return to New Zealand. Syria needed humanitarian aid, not a bloody jihad, he wrote. He also claimed the New Zealand government had agreed to give him a new passport and he would leave Syria by late October, but not return to New Zealand.Michael Safi, “New Zealander thought to be fighting in Syria accidentally tweets locations,” Guardian (London), January 1, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/01/new-zealander-syria-isis-accidentally-tweets-locations; Kurt Bayer, “Kiwi jihadist wants to leave Syria,” New Zealand Herald, September 16, 2014, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325784. Taylor claimed he witnessed multiple beheadings and other forms of execution by ISIS. He later told Australian media that anybody who complained about living conditions was either imprisoned or executed.Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382.

Taylor lived in ISIS’s so-called caliphate for more than four years. During that time, he had two wives, but he later lamented that he could not afford to buy a Yazidi slave. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that female slaves cost between $4,000 and $50,000, but he could never afford to buy one. He first married a Syrian woman from Deir Ezzor named Umm Mohammed. According to Taylor, she begged him to leave ISIS territory and go to Turkey. He then married a second Syrian woman who was pro-ISIS, but he divorced her because she wanted to move to be closer to her friends. Taylor said he “had to explain to her on several occasions she had to stay home and obey her husband.”Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382.

Taylor claimed he worked as a border guard for ISIS between the terror group’s captured territory and Syria. He also said he used his Kalashnikov rifle for target practice only and never served in a combat role. Taylor also told Australian media that he had taught English while in ISIS territory.“Kiwi jihadist Mark Taylor may face legal action in NZ, says Jacinda Ardern,” New Zealand Herald, March 4, 2019, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12209373. Between October and December 2014, Taylor made dozens of posts to Twitter with the site’s geolocation feature turned on, revealing his location and the location of a secret ISIS base.Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382. That December, he deleted 45 tweets that revealed his location. Beginning in January 2015, he spent 50 days in an ISIS prison for his Twitter error.Michael Safi, “New Zealander thought to be fighting in Syria accidentally tweets locations,” Guardian (London), January 1, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/01/new-zealander-syria-isis-accidentally-tweets-locations; Kurt Bayer, “Kiwi jihadist wants to leave Syria,” New Zealand Herald, September 16, 2014, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325784; Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382. In April 2015, Taylor appeared in an ISIS propaganda video alongside Australian foreign fighter Neil Prakash. In the video, Taylor encouraged attacks on both New Zealand and Australia.Australian Associated Press, “New Zealand's 'bumbling jihadi' Isis recruit caught in Syria,” Guardian (London), March 4, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/04/new-zealands-bumbling-jihadi-isis-recruit-caught-in-syria; Associated Press, “From Minnesota to Melbourne, Islamic State draws motley crew,” Times of Israel, May 21, 2015, https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-minnesota-to-melbourne-islamic-state-draws-motley-crew/. Taylor later said he was just a stand-in because Prakash had asked him. He also said he appeared in the video only because ISIS had begun to suspect he was a spy.Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382.

In December 2018, citing a lack of food, money, and basic services, Taylor decided that life under ISIS rule had become unbearable and fled. He surrendered to Kurdish forces in northern Syria and was transferred to a Kurdish prison. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from that prison in December 2019, Taylor recalled his “hard decision” to leave but said he was “in a pickle” because basic services in the Islamic State had collapsed.Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382.

New Zealand authorities issued an arrest warrant for Taylor in October 2019, which would result in Taylor’s arrest at the border if he attempts to return to New Zealand. Taylor is charged with threatening, between June 11, 2014, and April 24, 2015, in Raqqa, Syria, to do grievous bodily harm to New Zealand police officers and soldiers.“Warrant that would stop the man called the Kiwi jihadi at the border,” Stuff, October 18, 2019, https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/116686272/warrant-that-would-stop-the-man-called-the-kiwi-jihadi-at-the-border. Also in October 2019, New Zealand Justice Minister Andrew Little introduced new legislation in the country’s parliament designed to deradicalize foreign fighters. Government officials did not confirm, but New Zealand media suspected the legislation was in response to Taylor as Little acknowledged that the chances of Taylor returning to New Zealand had increased. One New Zealand outlet dubbed the bill “the Mark Taylor law.”Tova O’Brien, “What the new ‘Mark Taylor law’ would mean for returning ‘high-risk’ New Zealanders,” Newshub, October 16, 2020, https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/10/what-the-new-mark-taylor-law-would-mean-for-returning-high-risk-new-zealanders.html. The justice minister called Taylor a “bumbling idiot” but affirmed that Taylor still posed a threat to New Zealand if he were to return.Jason Walls, “Govt introduces new legislation to de-radicalise terrorists returning from overseas,” New Zealand Herald, October 16, 2019, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12277082. In December 2019, the New Zealand government passed the Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill to allow authorities to implement control orders on returning foreign fighters, such as electronic monitoring or rehabilitation.“NZ safer as Terrorism Suppression Bill becomes law,” Scoop, December 12, 2019, https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1912/S00122/nz-safer-as-terrorism-suppression-bill-becomes-law.htm.

Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from a Kurdish prison in Syria in early 2020, Taylor said he hoped to return to New Zealand but understood if he could not. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he was “sorry for causing too much trouble and being a bit hot-headed and flamboyant in my approach… I don’t know if I can go back to New Zealand, but at the end of the day it’s really something I have to live with for the rest of my life.”Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382.

Because Taylor holds citizenship only in New Zealand, the country cannot revoke his citizenship as that would leave him stateless. According to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Taylor would have to travel to a country where New Zealand has a consular office in order to receive new travel documents.Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge, “New Zealand jihadist Mark Taylor captured in Syria and jailed in Kurdish prison,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 4, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-04/new-zealand-islamic-statjihadist-mark-taylor-captured-and-jailed/10866382.