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Islamic radical heads off for Brazil

Just days after being banned from preaching in WA jails, self-styled Islamic radical Junaid Thorne is headed for the Middle East on his way to Brazil.

Thorne, whose sermons have come to the attention of Australian authorities, yesterday tweeted a picture of himself on a plane to Melbourne. "Just boarded the plane heading to Melbourne, and then Abu Dhabi on the way to Brazil," he wrote.

A keen fan of Riyadh's Al-Hilal Football Club, it is unclear whether Thorne intends to attend the soccer World Cup.

Thorne has also claimed he will spend Ramadan in Brazil.

_The West Australian _revealed this week that Thorne, a Noongar, had been lecturing in WA prisons to young Muslims.

He spent two months in a Saudi Arabian jail in 2012 for protesting against the imprisonment of his brother Shayden.

Both brothers had their Australian passports confiscated but were eventually deported after intense lobbying by the Australian Government.

Attorney-General George Brandis, who yesterday met imams keen to stop young Australian Muslims joining radical fighters in Iraq and Syria, would not be drawn on whether Thorne could have breached any Australian laws with his hate-filled sermons. "I'm not going to answer a hypothetical question like that," Senator Brandis said.