He could think of no reason for the arrest. “Maybe he lost his money or his passport,” Mr Jamal said at home before leaving on a pilgrimage overseas. “He does not know anyone in Iraq.” Another of the seven Jamal brothers, Mohammed, 21, said while he loved all his siblings including four sisters, he had been closest to [Ahmad Jamal]. “He wanted to go and find a wife, come back to Australia, settle down and have children.” He said Ahmad was a “good-natured kid” who had no terrorist connections. “It is all bull, I can tell you now, it is all a crock. He just wouldn’t be involved in something like that. It has been a big shock to the family. It is Iraq — the most dangerous country on the planet.” The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is the ruling power in Kurdistan.

THE family of a 22-year-old Australian man arrested in Iraq has denied he had any connections with terrorism, saying he went to the Middle East in search of a wife.

Ahmad Jamal, a spraypainter from western Sydney, was detained in northern Iraq by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, according to a report by the International Red Cross handed to Australian consular officials in Amman.

The November 30 report was passed on to the Jamal family in Sydney this week. Ahmad is a brother of Sydney fugitive Saleh Jamal, who is awaiting trial in Beirut on terrorism charges. A Lebanese judge has claimed Saleh, 28, had been planning to travel to Iraq with several al-Qa’ida operatives before his arrest in Lebanon.

The brothers’ father Mahmoud Jamal, 67, said yesterday he was mystified about why Ahmad had been discovered in northern Iraq. Mr Jamal said Ahmad had left Sydney five or six months ago for Saudi Arabia to find a wife. “He wanted to marry a truthful woman,” said Mr Jamal, who has lived in Australia for more than 40 years.

Ahmad also travelled through the Middle East last year. He and another brother, Omer, were refused entry to Jordan and quizzed by ASIO on their return to Australia.

Mahmoud Jamal described Ahmad as “quiet, happy, respectful and religious”.

He could think of no reason for the arrest. “Maybe he lost his money or his passport,” Mr Jamal said at home before leaving on a pilgrimage overseas. “He does not know anyone in Iraq.” Another of the seven Jamal brothers, Mohammed, 21, said while he loved all his siblings including four sisters, he had been closest to Ahmad. “He wanted to go and find a wife, come back to Australia, settle down and have children.” He said Ahmad was a “good-natured kid” who had no terrorist connections. “It is all bull, I can tell you now, it is all a crock. He just wouldn’t be involved in something like that. It has been a big shock to the family. It is Iraq — the most dangerous country on the planet.” The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is the ruling power in Kurdistan. Its representative in Australia, Simko Halmet, said he had been unable to confirm Ahmad’s arrest but that he might have been treated with suspicion because of his family’s background. “It is not a tourist place,” Mr Halmet said. “What was he doing there, knowing the situation in Iraq?” A Foreign Affairs Department spokesman said it had delayed informing the Jamal family while they tried to confirm details of Ahmad’s arrest. He said attempts by consular officials in Baghdad and Amman to contact him had so far failed.

ORIGINAL COPY: