Australia prosecutes women returning from Syria for 'enslavement'
Australian police have charged two women linked to the Islamic State group with "enslavement" offences after returning from Syria, where they had been held in a refugee camp for more than seven years.
Police said Kawthar Ahmed, 54, and her daughter Zainab Ahmed, 31, are facing charges of crimes against humanity, including possessing and using a female slave girl in Syria, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Australian police arrested the two women as part of a group of four women and nine children who returned to Australia from Syria on Thursday at Melbourne airport, and Australian Federal Police Assistant Counter-Terrorism Commissioner Stephen Knott said: "This is still an active investigation into very serious allegations."
The two women travelled to Syria in 2014 with their families, kept a maid in their home, appeared in court on Friday, and will remain in custody until the next hearing on Monday, the Victorian Magistrate's Court said.
Janai Saffar, 32, was arrested at Sydney airport on Thursday and charged with terrorism-related charges, including alleged membership of the Islamic State group, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
A court in Sydney refused to release Saffar on bail and will remain behind bars until the next hearing on July 15, according to court records.
According to police, Saffar travelled to Syria in 2015 to join her husband, who had previously left Australia and joined the Islamic State.
Australian Prime Minister: Punishment is inevitable
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in an interview with Nova Melbourne radio that "Australian citizens have the right to have Australian passports, to come to their country, but what we have the right to do is to punish them firmly, and that's exactly what we're doing."
Albanese added that three of the four women who returned are facing serious charges, while the other will be under probation, noting that he sympathizes with their children, who were "victims of decisions made by their parents."
On April 25, the Australian government refused to provide any support for the return of its citizens in northeastern Syria, who are suspected of being linked to ISIS, following reports that a number of Australian families left the "Roj" camp in Al-Hasakah towards the capital Damascus in preparation for their return.
13 Australians return from Syria
Thirteen Australians (4 women and 9 children) from ISIS families arrived at Sydney and Melbourne airports on Thursday (May 7) after arranging their return to Australia from al-Roj camp in al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria, according to Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
The Australian minister stressed that his country did not provide any assistance in the return process, and described the women's decision to travel to Syria in the past as appalling, shameful, appalling and shameful, stressing that the government will not tolerate any possible wrongdoing, and that everyone involved will face the maximum punishment stipulated by law.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that about 21 Australians remained in the Roj camp in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province.
Australian Police: Long-Term Restrictive Measures
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Chrissy Barrett said police were awaiting the group's arrival, stressing that some of the women would be arrested as soon as they arrived, while others would be subject to ongoing investigations.
Barrett explained that the competent authorities have been collecting evidence for about ten years about the travel of Australians to Syria during the period of the control of ISIS, including the possibility of committing terrorist crimes or crimes against humanity such as engaging in the slave trade, indicating that the investigations include traveling to a war zone in illegal ways contrary to Australian law.
Police confirmed that the nine children would not be treated as suspects, but would undergo mandatory programs that included therapeutic community integration and countering violent extremism programs.
Human rights organizations, Save the Children Australia, filed a lawsuit in 2023 on behalf of 11 women and 20 children, demanding their return to Australia, but the federal court rejected the lawsuit on the grounds that the government had no direct control over their places of detention inside Syria.
New South Wales Premier Chris Means said any potential repatriation would require clear safeguards and support programmes, particularly for children, to facilitate their reintegration into society.
The government uses temporary exclusion orders (TEOs) to control the conditions of return and impose restrictions on individuals for up to two years, while the use of revocation of dual citizenship has declined after legal challenges, with the country moving towards prosecuting returnees within its territory rather than leaving them abroad.