Australian Authorities Charge Melbourne Woman in Islamic State Syria Case]

Australian police have charged a 34-year-old Melbourne woman with traveling to Syria and joining the Islamic State group, according to statements from federal authorities.

The woman was arrested at her Melbourne residence eight months after returning to Australia via Lebanon alongside another woman, Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Hilda Sirec said. The arrest occurred two days after seven women and 12 children linked to IS returned to Australia from a Syrian refugee camp, despite government objections.

Three weeks prior, four women and nine children returned from the same Roj camp for displaced people, located near the convergence of Syria, Turkey, and Iraq. Three of those women were charged with slavery and terrorism offenses upon arrival and remain in custody.

All women who returned from Syria this month remain under investigation. The recently arrested Melbourne woman is expected to appear Thursday in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on charges of entering and remaining in a declared conflict zone, as well as joining a terrorist organization—offenses carrying maximum sentences of 10 years each.

Police allege she traveled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 to join IS and was captured by Kurdish forces in March 2019 after IS territorial defeats, subsequently placed in the al-Hol displacement camp. She allegedly returned to Australia on September 26.

Separately, Janai Safar, 32, of Sydney faces similar charges following her arrival in Australia with her 9-year-old son on May 7. A magistrate denied her bail application, requiring her to remain in prison for at least two months.

Police allege Safar followed her IS fighter partner to Syria in 2015 and had a child there. Her partner reportedly died in 2017. Australia banned its citizens from traveling to Raqqa without legitimate reason from 2014 to 2017.

Kawsar Ahmed, also known as Kawsar Abbas, and her daughter Zeinab Ahmed, 31, have been charged in Melbourne related to allegations of purchasing a female Yazidi slave for $10,000 in Syria. The daughter’s bail hearing is scheduled for next week, while the mother’s hearing is set for June 16.

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