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In brief
- Three women from IS-group-linked families are facing charges after arriving in Australia.
- One woman is accused of complicity in the purchase of a female slave for US$10,000.
Two women, who have been linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group and face allegations of crimes against humanity, are currently in custody but intend to seek bail. Their arrests followed their return to Australia, and they appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday morning.
The women, aged 53 and 31, are charged with several offences reportedly committed in Syria. They arrived in Melbourne on Thursday night as part of a group of women and children who had been living in a refugee camp in Syria.
The courtroom was packed as both women made separate appearances. They were ordered to remain in custody until Monday, at which time they will file for bail.
According to detectives, the 53-year-old woman is accused of traveling to the region with her husband and children in 2014. Allegations against her include involvement in the purchase of a female slave for $10,000 USD and knowingly keeping the woman within her household.
Detectives allege the 53-year-old travelled to the region with her husband and children in 2014, and was complicit in the purchase of a female slave for US$10,000, and knowingly kept the woman in her home.
It is alleged that the younger woman also had knowingly kept a female slave in her Syrian home in 2014.
Police said the pair were detained by Kurdish forces in 2019 and held with other family members in al-Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp.
Another woman landed in Sydney on Thursday evening and was one of three charged following a nearly decade-long investigation, which began after the women travelled to the Middle East with their partners, who intended to fight for the IS group.
She is set to appear at an NSW Bail Division court via an audiovisual link on Friday.
The 32-year-old is facing charges of entering a prohibited area and being a member of a terrorist organisation.
The Sydney woman’s lawyers were seeking an “urgent” psychologist report before making a bid for her release, according to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
The Australian Federal Police’s (AFP) counter-terrorism assistant commissioner, Stephen Nutt, said operational planning for the potential return of individuals from the Middle East started in 2015 but the investigation remains active.
A senior AFP officer would not answer questions on Thursday about the fate of the children, many of whom were born in Middle Eastern prison camps notorious for squalid conditions and the presence of extremist groups.
But they are expected to need significant support to help them adjust to life in Australia and to determine whether they’ve been radicalised while overseas.
Some of the women travelled willingly to support their partners who wanted to fight for the IS group, but advocates for the group say others were coerced or only went to the Middle East to keep their family together.
There were still unanswered questions about the financial cost of the cohort returning to Australia, Opposition home affairs spokesperson Jonno Duniam said on Thursday morning, claiming it may cost as much as $2 million a year to monitor each person.
“That’s a lot of money being spent on managing 13 people who I say we should have done more to prevent coming back in the first place,” he told Adelaide radio station FiveAA.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the opposition would have done the same when in government.
“We will spend what we need to spend to keep Australians safe,” she told ABC Radio on Friday.
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