Australia Repatriates IS-Linked Women, Children

Australia repatriated seven women and twelve children linked to Islamic State (IS) from Syria on Tuesday. The group landed in Melbourne and Sydney after being held at the al-Roj camp since 2019. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed that those who committed crimes can expect legal consequences.

The returnees left the camp on Thursday and boarded flights to Australia from Damascus on Monday. Authorities have been preparing for their return since 2014, with plans in place to manage and monitor them. Among those returning are Kirsty Rosse-Emile, who left Australia at 19, and Nesrine Zahab, whose father described her involvement as a 'mistake' made in her early 20s.

Nesrine has previously claimed she did not willingly enter Syria and was brought there against her will. The return has drawn criticism from opponents who argue the government failed to stop repatriations. However, the government maintains that there are limits on preventing Australian citizens from re-entering the country. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have prepared for such returns for over a decade.

In related news, an Australian woman who returned home in September from a Syrian refugee camp has been charged with allegedly joining Islamic State. The 34-year-old traveled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 with others, including a man, to allegedly join ISIS, according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Both offences carry a maximum penalty of up to ten years in prison.

An Australian mother of four was held in custody after she appeared in court on Thursday charged with traveling to Syria and joining the Islamic State group. Rayann El Houli, 34, was arrested at her Melbourne home eight months after she returned to Australia via Lebanon with her children and another woman, police and her lawyer said.

The arrest came two days after seven women and twelve children linked to IS returned to Australia from a Syrian refugee camp against the wishes of the Australian government. Three weeks ago, four women and nine children in similar circumstances returned from the same Roj camp for displaced people. Three of the four women were charged on arrival with slavery and terrorism offenses and remain in custody.

All the women who returned from Syria this month remained under police investigation. Another woman, who accompanied El Houli to Australia from Lebanon, also was under investigation, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Hilda Sirec said. A period of time passing without charges does not indicate investigations have ceased, Sirec noted.

El Houli wore a black niqab when she appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court flanked by two prison officers. She was charged with entering and remaining in a declared conflict zone. She also has been charged with joining a terrorist organization, IS. Each charge carries a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Her bail application will be heard on Monday. Her lawyer Peter Morrissey told Magistrate Lisa Hannan that it was a priority to return El Houli, who suffers from PTSD, to her children. 'The children are doing well in school, in (sports) programs, doing everything as best they can,' Morrissey said.

Police allege El Houli traveled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 to join IS. She was captured with her family by Kurdish forces in March 2019 after IS fighters were defeated and was placed in al-Hol camp for displaced people. She returned to Australia on Sept. 26, police allege.

Janai Safar, 32, of Sydney was charged with similar offenses when she arrived in Australia with her 9-year-old son on May 7. She must spend at least two months in a Sydney prison after a magistrate refused her application to be released on bail. Police allege she followed her IS-fighter partner to Syria in 2015 and had a child there. The partner reportedly died in 2017.

Kawsar Ahmed, also known as Kawsar Abbas, and her daughter Zeinab Ahmed, 31, were charged in a Melbourne court on May 8 in relation to allegations that their family bought a female Yazidi slave for $10,000 in Syria, police said. The daughter is scheduled to apply for bail next week and the mother has a bail hearing scheduled for June 16.