A group of women and children with links to the collapsed Islamic State have begun landing in Australia, more than six years after being taken into refugee camps in Syria.
One group touched down at Melbourne Airport shortly before 5:30pm this evening, while another woman and her child landed in Sydney about 15 minutes later.
The cohort, referred to by some politicians as the “ISIS brides”, are a group of women who moved to Syria during the height of the Islamic State movement then got trapped there after the group’s territorial “caliphate” was defeated in 2019.
The Qatar Airways flight landed in Melbourne shortly before 5.30pm. (ABC News)
Thousands of foreign family members of suspected and deceased Islamic State operatives were detained in refugee camps in north-eastern Syria, where many have remained since.
Thirteen Australians — four women and nine children — left the Al Roj camp on April 24, and are understood to have been based in Syria’s capital Damascus before booking their flights home this week.
The case has become a political headache for the federal government, which has for months condemned the group’s actions and warned they would receive no assistance from Australia.
Federal police yesterday confirmed some of the women would be arrested and charged after returning to Australia.
The Qatar Airways flight believed to be carrying a woman linked to ISIS fighters and her child lands in Sydney. (ABC News: Liam Patrick)
The charges, AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett said, could include “terrorism offences, such as entering or remaining in declared areas, and crimes against humanity offences such as engaging in slave trading”.
Investigations into some women will also continue after their return to Australia, Ms Barrett said.
It is understood 21 Australians still remain in the Al Roj camp in north-eastern Syria.
Do you know more about this story? Contact Rollason.Bridget@abc.net.au.
Families say life in Syria was ‘hell’
The extent of the federal government’s involvement in the case has also come under scrutiny, after the Syrian government last week said it had prevented the group from reaching Damascus because “the Australian government had refused to receive them”.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke yesterday said the federal government was not involved in the Syrian government’s actions.
But overnight, a Syrian government official told the ABC the Australian government was the “deciding factor” in whether or not the group could leave Syria.
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In response, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it never asked the Syrian government to delay the group’s return. Other federal government departments were also contacted for comment.
For months, Australian officials have said that while they will not help the ISIS-linked families return home, they did not have the power to stop them.
All of the women and children are Australian citizens and hold Australian passports.
One of the women who is believed to still be in the Al Roj camp is subject to a Temporary Exclusion Order, which puts restrictions on travelling to Australia for up to two years.
At the airport in Doha, Qatar, before boarding their flight to Melbourne, some of the women told the ABC they were excited to return home.
“We just want our children to be safe. It was like hell [in Syria] for them,” one of the women said.
Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, said the return of the women placed the broader Muslim community in a “deeply challenging position”.
He urged Australians not to allow Muslim Australians to be unfairly targeted.
“Let the legal processes proceed fully and fairly as these families arrive, with regard for due process and human rights,” he said.
“Our compassion must focus on the vulnerable children who were born into unimaginable circumstances with risks of statelessness, while recognising their innocence and the long-term impact on their wellbeing.”
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