A woman accused of fleeing Australia to join ISIS in Syria alongside her husband allegedly undertook “three weeks of training with Islamic State”, a court was told.
Janai Samarra Safar, 32, was arrested at Sydney Airport in May after she returned to the country from Syria.
The former Sydney nursing student left Australia for Syria in 2015 where she allegedly joined her husband, who had previously left to join ISIS.
She has been charged with knowingly being a member of a terrorist organisation and entering and remaining in a declared area.
Ms Safar lost her second bid for freedom in an unsuccessful bail application in Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old allegedly took part in three weeks of training with ISIS, according to documents tendered for the release application and summarised by Judge Marguerite Vassall on Wednesday.
Ms Safar’s mother has also claimed she had been sent photos of her daughter with rifles, however the judge noted her mother would likely not be able to give evidence in proceedings due to a dementia diagnosis.
Ms Safar’s lawyer, Michael Ainsworth, argued during the bail hearing that comments made by his client in a 2019 interview to The Australian were misrepresentations, with her lawyer claiming it would be “inadmissable” as evidence.
Prosecutor Brian Masson in turn submitted text messages allegedly sent by Ms Safar to her father about the article “cut against the submission that (she) was misquoted or misunderstood”.
The alleged messages included “I said my husband has weapons because if I said he didn’t they’ll know I’m lying” and “everyone knows we have weapons”, the court was told.
‘Needs help now’: Alleged ISIS bride’s plea
Mr Ainsworth said Ms Safar had spent more than seven years in “appalling conditions” in a refugee camp.
“She needs help now to deal with the ongoing effect of that seven years and some months in those conditions,” Mr Ainsworth said.
“She needs help, quite plainly, that she is not getting in custody.”
He said she has “seen things that nobody should see” – including a series of bombings and corpses – and that she had been unable to disavow ISIS in the camps.
“You wouldn’t wish on anyone the things that (she has) had to see,” he said.
“There were effectively enforcers amongst the refugees in the camp making sure people didn’t stray.”
Mr Massone said there was no dispute Ms Safar had experienced “wretched conditions” and suffered from a series of health issues, but argued the legislative requirements to grant her release had not been met.
“She made arrangements to surreptitiously travel to an area which the Crown says she knew was under the control of the Islamic State,” Mr Massone said.
“(She was) married to not one but two fighters associated with the Islamic State, plus that she sent messages consistent with the ideology of the Islamic State.”
Mr Massone said ISIS was responsible for “some of the worst atrocities” of this century, and said expert evidence had found women in these terrorist organisations “often have agency”.
“They are not merely unsuspecting participants,” he said.
She was ultimately denied bail, and her matter is expected to return to court in September.