Mark John Taylor

Mark Taylor grew up in Hamilton in the North Island. According to a relative, he suffered brain damage following a "major fit with teething." He attended a special needs school but was brought up as a normal child.[5] During the 1990s, Taylor served in the New Zealand Army. He married a Christian woman and became a "born again" Christian.[6]

In 2003, Taylor lived in Lakemba a suburb of Sydney in Australia. Taylor was actively engaged with the Muslim community there, claiming that he was unlike most Muslim converts in that he had converted to Islam through the medium of the internet.

In 2009, Taylor traveled to Yemen and Pakistan, drawing the attention of New Zealand authorities. Following his arrest by Pakistani authorities while trying to reach an Al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, the New Zealand Government imposed travel restrictions on him.[7][8] According to a Muslim elder from the Hamilton Muslim community, Taylor struggled with mental health issues and was influenced by the sermons of radical Yemeni-American preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki.[9]

In 2010, Taylor was deported from Australia after his visa was cancelled when he was classified as a "security risk" by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Taylor had lived between Australia and New Zealand for 25 years.[1] In 2011, Taylor was reissued with a New Zealand passport. In May 2012, he migrated to Indonesia where he worked as an English-language teacher for two years.[5] During his time in Indonesia, Taylor reportedly married an Indonesian woman who had children from a previous marriage. She reportedly expressed unease about his unstable character and addiction to violent video games.[10]

In June 2014, Taylor entered Syria through the Turkish border and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In late 2014, Taylor deleted 45 Twitter posts after they reportedly exposed an ISIL presence in the Kafar Roma area in Syria.[7][8] In late April 2015, Taylor appeared in an ISIS YouTube propaganda video calling for terror attacks in New Zealand and Australia on Anzac Day, which falls on 25 April.[8] In response, the United States Government designated Taylor as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist."[1]

Taylor has claimed that he was not a fighter during the five years that he spent with ISIL and that he only served as a border guard along the border between the Islamic State and Syria. Taylor has also alleged that he was imprisoned three times by the ISIL secret police unit. In October 2015, Taylor mistakenly exposed the location of ISIL fighters on Twitter when he forgot to turn off a tracking function on his phone,[1] earning the nickname the "bumbling Jihadist".[7][8] He claims that he was imprisoned for 50 days as punishment for that incident. Taylor has also claimed that he witnessed several beheadings and executions during his time with ISIL.[1]

In May 2017, Taylor surfaced on the Islamic marriage website "islamicmarriage.com" seeking a wife willing to join him in the Islamic State's capital of Raqqa.[7] During his time in Syria, Taylor was reportedly married to two women. His first wife was a Syrian woman from Deir ez-Zor named Umm Mohammed who wanted him to leave for Turkey. Taylor subsequently married a younger woman who was sympathetic to ISIL. However, Taylor divorced her after she wanted to move to another area in order to be closer to her family.[1]

In December 2018, Taylor fled ISIL forces and surrendered to Kurdish forces in Syria. Taylor claims that he was motivated by the lack of food and money. On 4 March 2019, Taylor was interviewed while in custody by Australian Broadcasting Corporation Middle East correspondent Adam Harvey and Suzanne Dredge. During the interview, Taylor claimed that he had not taken part in hostilities but had merely served as a border guard for ISIL. Taylor also claimed to have witnessed several beheadings and executions. In addition, Taylor expressed regret that he was too poor to buy a female Yazidi slave. Taylor has expressed a desire to return to New Zealand but has acknowledged that he would not be surprised if his country did not take him back.[1][11][12]

During an interview with journalist Campell MacDiarmid of the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National, Taylor claimed that he had been in contact with New Zealand intelligence officers who had encouraged him to leave ISIS and had offered him assistance to return home. Taylor has also expressed an interest in setting up a medical marijuana company after returning to New Zealand.[13] However, Andrew Little, the Minister in charge of New Zealand's intelligence services, has asserted that no New Zealand government representatives have been in contact with Taylor since his capture.[6]