Three Australian Women Charged With Slavery and Terrorism Offenses After Returning From Syria

Police allege Abbas was complicit in the purchase and that the slave was kept in the family home. Abbas faces four crimes against humanity charges and Ahmed faces two slavery charges, each carrying a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. Both women were detained by Kurdish forces in March 2019 and held at the Roj camp in northeast Syria near the Iraq border until their return.

The camp houses mostly women and children displaced from former Islamic State-controlled areas. Neither woman spoke during their brief court appearance on Friday, and bail was formally denied. Their lawyers said they would apply again for bail on Monday.

Abbas, her husband and children traveled to Syria in 2014 when it was the center of the Islamic State group's self-declared caliphate, according to police. Ahmed is accused of involvement in the slavery offenses. The four women and nine children arrived in Australia on two Qatar Airways flights from Doha on Thursday despite government warnings they would face charges.

Safar, 32, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Thursday and charged with being a member of a terrorist organization and entering or remaining in a region controlled by a terrorist organization. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

A judge refused her bail application on Friday during a video link appearance from prison. Safar's lawyer argued that exceptional circumstances existed because both she and her 9-year-old son were likely suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and the boy knew no one else in Australia.

Police allege she followed her Islamic State fighter partner to Syria in 2015, had a child there, and that the partner died in 2017. Australia made travel to the former Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa without legitimate reason illegal between 2014 and 2017.

The Guardian reported that Safar will remain in custody in Sydney while two other women facing separate charges are expected to apply for bail in Melbourne on Monday.

“I have absolutely zero sympathy for these people. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that the children would receive support after exposure to horrors in the camps but that the parents could expect no government assistance. Police have been investigating potential Australian involvement in atrocities in Syria for more than a decade. Another 21 Australian women and children remain in the Roj camp. Supporters of those still in the camp told reporters they intend to repatriate them within weeks. One of the women is subject to a temporary exclusion order preventing her return for up to two years, though such orders cannot be issued against children under 14 and Australia has ruled out separating children from their mothers. Australian governments have repatriated women and children from Syrian detention camps on two previous occasions. Other Australians have returned without official assistance. The charges against the three women mark the latest development in Australia's handling of its citizens who joined or lived under Islamic State rule. BBC News reported that a third woman who returned was charged with joining a terrorist organisation.”