The New Zealand Government needs to take Kiwi jihadi Mark Taylor "out of circulation'', Prof Robert Patman says.
Prof Patman, who is an international relations specialist based at the University of Otago, made the comment during a Global Insight interview on ODTtv today.
Taylor has been in the Middle East with terrorist organisation Isis for five years. He is now in a Kurdish-controlled prison in Syria.
Prof Patman rejects calls to leave him to his own fate. But he insists that bringing Taylor back to New Zealand is not the soft option.
New Zealand has international obligations to not let suspected terrorists who are New Zealand citizens go free.
We also have the legislation to deal with him, he says.
"We shouldn't be fudging the situation, which is what we doing at the moment,'' Prof Patman says.
"A wait and see approach by the government is not good enough.
"This is someone who has been part of a criminal organisation, and he should be brought back with speed to face justice in this country. We have the Terrorist Suppression Act to deal with him.''
It is believed Taylor may be one of 10 New Zealanders who joined Isis.
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