Patrick Stevenson, 20, has been detained for nearly seven months in north-western Syria, accused of the shooting murder of Abdullah Glen Charles Burgess, 40, while Australian officials say their efforts have gone nowhere and they have no access to the prison or the court process.
Who Holds the Levers
Angela Bell, Stevenson’s mother, said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had told her diplomatic efforts had stalled. “They say … that their policy is that he shouldn't have been travelling to Syria … and that's where the conversation gets stuck,” she said on the ABC's 7.30 program. “They use the word 'limited' a lot. They don't use the word failure, but basically the sense is they … have limited capacity to help in this situation.” That’s the language of an apparatus that can issue statements but can’t, or won’t, open the doors where a young man is being held.
Bell said the family had received no meaningful paperwork from Syria. “Not a single document has come from Syria explaining the charges,” she said. “There's no paperwork, there's no access to Patrick.” No Australian government representative has visited Stevenson in prison, attended his court hearings or independently assessed his welfare. The state can talk about “support.” It can’t produce access.
Stevenson faces a charge of premeditated murder, an offence punishable by death in Syria. Syrian authorities allege he confessed to firing at least eight shots from an AK-47 at Burgess. But his family and Australian legal team say they do not know how the alleged confession was obtained and have raised serious concerns about whether he will receive a fair trial.
A Family Tries to Force Open the Door
Last week, Stevenson’s father, Clay, travelled to Syria carrying his son’s Australian medical records and a psychiatric report for the court. He visited Stevenson in Sarmada prison and attended a court hearing on Sunday — the first time a member of the family had seen him since he secretly left Australia last October. His parents say his mental health has deteriorated severely in detention.
Clay Stevenson said he had no idea his son had left the country. “I was shocked to find out that he was there,” he said. “It's just like, 'Wow, what's going through his head to be in Syria and who helped him get there?'” The question hangs there. Not answered. Just another reminder that the people closest to the case are the last to be informed.
Patrick Stevenson’s parents said he told them he intended to study at a Syrian university and hoped to find a wife. They tried desperately to convince him to return home. The family said they discovered he was overseas only after officers from the Queensland Police Security and Counter-Terrorism Command contacted them. His parents said officers searched his bedroom at his father’s home and questioned them about extremist material he had allegedly posted in a group chat. Bell said ASIO later questioned her about her son’s associations on the Gold Coast.
Stevenson converted to Islam during his final year of high school in 2023, according to his family. By last year, he was showing signs of radicalisation, including sharing speeches by Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born Al Qaeda cleric and propagandist killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011. He also volunteered with Muslim Youth GC (MYGC), a youth group connected to the Worongary Mosque on the Gold Coast. The group’s leader, Abdul Rahman Nasiri, said neither it nor any other local organisation had supported Stevenson’s journey and he was free to make his own choices.
What the Authorities Call Process
The ABC has established that Burgess was a tree lopper from the village of Eltham, near Lismore, who spent months in Afghanistan before settling in Syria last year with his Australian wife and their daughters. According to Syrian authorities, Burgess was shot dead in his home in the town of Darkush in Idlib province on December 31, while his wife and daughters were in another room.
Stevenson was arrested nearby soon afterwards and later charged with premeditated murder. Syrian authorities allege he confessed to firing at least eight shots from an AK-47 at Burgess. Bell said the family did not know how the alleged confession was obtained. Bernadette Zaydan, the family’s Australian lawyer, said the confession raised alarm bells because it was unclear whether it had been obtained under duress, in writing or orally. “We have grave concerns for his welfare,” she said.
Zaydan urged the federal government to press for Stevenson to receive a transparent trial before an independent court, rather than one associated with Syria’s administration or armed forces. That request lands in a system where Australia has no embassy or consulate in Syria, severely limiting the consular assistance it can provide. Correspondence seen by the ABC shows DFAT repeatedly told the family it could not obtain information from Syrian authorities and had no access to the country’s detention facilities.
The ABC understands Australia has made representations about Stevenson’s case, but DFAT told his family last month that the Syrian government had shown little engagement. After the ABC revealed the case, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that Australia was providing support to both families. “Legal processes will take their course overseas, of course, and that is appropriate,” he said. “I feel for the family of the person who's lost their life, and we're connected to them and providing support for them. We're also providing support for the family of the man who's been charged.”
Canberra has struggled to establish relations with Syria’s new government, unlike allies including the United States and France. Australia continues to impose sanctions on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the militant group from which Syria’s new leadership emerged, and lists it as a terrorist organisation. The group, which formally dissolved last year, was previously affiliated with Al Qaeda.
Stevenson left Australia on a flight to Bali on October 10 before travelling to Syria. His parents said they had no idea he had left the country. The family said they discovered he was overseas only after police contacted them. That’s how the machinery works: first the surveillance, then the shock, then the paperwork that never seems to arrive.
Burgess’s widow, Amatullah Laurie Duniam, could spare Stevenson execution by granting forgiveness, potentially in exchange for a payment of blood money, known as diya. Duniam and other members of Burgess’s family declined to speak to the ABC. In a case moving through Syria’s fractured legal system after 14 years of civil war, the final word may rest not with the people most affected, but with the court, the clemency committee and the president.