Jihadi 'joker' turns television host with 'The Zaky Mallah Show'

Sydney, Dec 19 (ANI): The first person charged and acquitted under Australia's anti-terrorism laws, Zaky Mallah, has now become a television host.

The 27-year-old, once deemed at risk of becoming a suicide bomber, said the first people he rang to tell of his idea to become the "next Jerry Springer" was the spy agency ASIO.

"They were laughing," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying.

The first time Mallah made a video, in 2003, he was arrested under newly introduced anti-terrorism laws.

His show 'The Zaky Mallah Show', he said, is a mix of Dr Phil, Jerry Springer and Beauty and the Beast.

The latest episode, recorded at Parramatta Leagues Club, has been posted on YouTube and his site www.mds.ucoz.com.

"I've become more entertaining, a clown ... What terror suspect has turned himself around and created his own TV show?"

Mallah made a jihad-style video after he was refused a passport to travel to Lebanon. He told a police officer he wanted to take foreign affairs and ASIO officers hostage, killing them and himself in protest. He served two years in jail for the threats but was cleared of other charges. (ANI)