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Thirteen IS-linked women and children return to Australia
Thirteen women and children with ties to the Islamic State (IS) group arrived in Australia on Thursday after spending years in a Syrian detention camp, sparking renewed debate over their repatriation.
Arrival details and identities
Three women and eight children, believed to be part of the same family, landed in Melbourne late Thursday afternoon. Another woman and her child arrived in Sydney shortly after. The Melbourne group includes grandmother Kawsar Abbas and her adult daughters, Zeinab and Zahra Ahmed, along with their eight children. Abbas is married to Mohammad Ahmad, who ran a charity suspected by Australian authorities of funneling money to IS. Ahmad, currently imprisoned in Syria, denied the allegations in a 2019 interview with the ABC.
The Sydney arrival, identified as Janai Safar, is a former Sydney nursing student who traveled to Syria in 2015 and reportedly married an IS fighter. In a 2019 interview, Safar stated she had chosen to go to Syria and feared returning to Australia due to potential arrest and separation from her nine-year-old son, born in Syria.
Legal consequences and investigations
Police confirmed that some of the women will face arrest and charges upon arrival, while others remain under investigation. Potential charges include terrorism offenses, such as entering or remaining in declared areas, and crimes against humanity, including involvement in slave trading. Police Commissioner Krissy Barratt indicated these charges were part of the government's response to their return.
Government response and monitoring
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stated that the government learned of the group's return on Wednesday when their tickets were booked. Burke emphasized that those who had joined IS and committed crimes would face legal consequences. He noted that the government had prepared for their return since 2014, with plans to monitor and manage the group.
Mike Burgess, head of Australia's spy agency, said he was not immediately concerned about the returnees but confirmed they would receive close attention from security services. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen added that children returning to the state would be required to participate in countering violent extremism programs.
Background and broader context
The 13 returnees are part of a larger group of 34 individuals, including wives, widows, and children of IS fighters, who left the al-Roj detention camp in February but returned for unspecified technical reasons. The Australian government had refused to officially repatriate them. One individual from the cohort was barred from returning earlier this year under a temporary exclusion order, preventing their return for up to two years.
Reactions from the returnees
During a connecting flight in Doha, the women told an ABC reporter they were eager to return home, describing Australia as "like paradise" compared to their experiences in Syria. One woman stated, "We just want our children to be safe. It was like hell [in Syria] for them."
"These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an unspeakable situation."
Tony Burke, Home Affairs Minister
