SYDNEY — An woman with alleged links to the Islamic State group has been charged in Australia, as authorities intensify investigations into nationals repatriated from detention camps in Syria.
Authorities made the announcement after two groups of women and children arrived in Australia this month after spending years in the al-Roj camp in north-east Syria where families of IS fighters have been held since 2019 without legal process.
Three of the women who returned this month also face various charges including crimes against humanity.
The 34-year-old arrived in the country in September along with another woman and was due to appear in a Melbourne court on Thursday, police said.She faces charges of being a member of a “terrorist” organisation and entering a declared conflict zone.
Federal police Assistant Commissioner Hilda Sirec said both offenses carry potential sentences of up to 10 years in prison.
Sirec said the woman traveled to Syria in 2013 or 2014 and was later detained by Kurdish forces in 2019 before being held in al-Hol camp along with her family.
Sirec said all the adult women who had arrived back in Australia recently were being investigated.
“A period of time without charges being laid is not an indicator that investigations have ceased,” she added.
Police have also charged Kawsar Ahmad and Zeinab Ahmad, a mother and daughter who arrived earlier this month, with enslavement-related offenses.
Another returnee, Janai Safar, has been charged with entering a declared conflict zone and joining IS.
At the height of its power in 2015, IS controlled territory across Syria and Iraq, roughly equivalent in size to the United Kingdom.
“A period of time without charges being laid is not an indicator that investigations have ceased.”
The group who arrived in Sydney and Melbourne on Tuesday were understood to be the last Australians in the al-Roj camp, with other Australians having returned in previous months and years.
The women and children have been the subject of heated political debate in Australia, with the government saying it had given them no help to return and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisting “if you make your bed, you lie in it”.
Advocates argued Australia must uphold their right to return and that the children in particular should be supported and not made to pay for the decisions of their parents.
Source: Saudi Gazette