Melbourne Court Hears Bail Application for Australian Woman Accused of Enslaving Yazidi Teen While Living Under ISIS Rule

Prosecutors argued in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on June 4 that Zeinab Ahmad, 31, should remain in custody because of an unacceptable risk she would endanger someone's safety if released on bail. Detective Senior Constable Marc Clendenning told the court that Ahmad had moved to Syria in 2015 with her family to support Islamic State and that her father, Mohammad Ahmad, purchased a 15-year-old Yazidi teenager for $US10,000 in 2017 to use as a slave.

The court heard that the teenager was taken to the Ahmad household in Islamic State-held Syria, where she was sexually and physically assaulted.

Detective Senior Constable Clendenning said Zeinab Ahmad never physically hurt the victim but treated her "very badly" and ordered her to carry out housework. Grace Morgan, Ahmad's barrister, questioned the detective about the restrictions Ahmad faced under Islamic State rule.

Clendenning agreed that Ahmad's movements and liberties were severely restricted, that she lived in a male-dominated household, and that she was married three times in three years.

Ahmad had no earlier criminal record and was in her early 20s at the time of the alleged offending. The court also heard that Ahmad and several family members travelled to Türkiye between May 2013 and November 2014 before migrating to Syria as a unit around January 2015. Her husband was killed in a drone strike in May 2016.

Clendenning said Ahmad entered into multiple marriages with Islamic State-linked men, worked for the group, and expressed support for its activities on social media. "The accused has never explicitly renounced or stated that she no longer supports the Islamic State since her surrender to Kurdish forces," Clendenning told the court.

" Prosecutor Andrew Sprague handed the magistrate a letter from a member of Australia's Yazidi community.

Detective Senior Constable Clendenning detailed how members of the ethnic and religious minority group were persecuted by Islamic State. Prosecutors argued that both the specific alleged victim and members of the local Yazidi community would be extremely fearful if bail were granted. The two-day bail hearing continues tomorrow.