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In brief
- A second group of families linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) is expected to arrive in Australia in the coming days.
- Three of the four women who returned to Australia in early May are in custody facing criminal charges.
Reports are emerging that more Australian women associated with the self-declared Islamic State (IS) group are set to depart Syria in the coming days. However, the prime minister has been firm in stating that the government will not extend any assistance to these individuals.
The group, comprising six women along with their children and grandchildren, has been residing in a camp designated for former IS combatants and their families.
According to the Australian Associated Press, discussions are ongoing between Kurdish and Syrian authorities to finalize the logistics for a 10-hour journey from the al-Roj refugee camp to Damascus, the Syrian capital. Here, the group is expected to catch flights back to Australia.
Earlier this May, four women and nine children successfully reached Sydney and Melbourne after spending nearly two weeks in Damascus.
Upon arrival in Australia, three of these women were taken into custody by the Australian Border Force, as confirmed in this report.
Two are facing charges relating to slavery, and the other has been charged with joining a terrorist organisation and travelling to a declared conflict zone.
All three remain in custody.
The Australian government would provide no help to another group of so-called ‘ISIS brides’, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told ABC radio on Wednesday.
“There wasn’t a government person on the plane [with the previous cohort], because we weren’t providing any assistance, and won’t,” he said.
“If there have been any breaches of Australian law, they will face the full force of the law, which is what happened to people when they arrived back just a couple of weeks ago.
“The US state department has been very keen on people leaving those camps.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns told media on Wednesday that the state government haven’t been “formally notified” about the arrival of a second group of IS-linked families.
“Generally, we receive a little bit of advanced notice,” he said.
“If there is to be another cohort returning, the public can expect that NSW Police and our security agencies will do what they need to do to keep the public safe.”
Opposition immigration spokesperson Jonno Duniam told Sky News he believed the government hadn’t done enough to stop women returning.
“They are the government. They can do something about it. I don’t buy the story that they’re running, that they can’t stop them from coming back. They can and they should,” he said.
“The fact that there was a brief of evidence available to authorities to arrest these people on arrival, yet it wasn’t enough to apply a temporary travel ban or revoke a travel document like a passport, beggars belief.”
The women are leaving at the same time Kurdish fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, are losing large areas of their territory to Syrian state forces.
Al-Roj, in the north-east tip of Syria, is one of the only areas it still holds.
A group of 34 women and children left the camp in February but were turned back around after being released.
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