A Melbourne-based ISIS bride was quietly living just minutes from survivors of the brutal terrorist regime she is accused of supporting, with the revelations prompting outrage from community leaders.<\/p>\n
Christian minority groups have expressed their shock and fear after the state and federal government failed to inform them that the woman \u2013 who was charged with terror-related offences on Thursday \u2013 was living in their neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
Former ISIS hostages and families who fled to Australia from Iraq and Syria as the terrorist group slaughtered their villages, leaving severed heads in their wake, had been dreading the return of remaining Islamic State brides for years. <\/p>\n
Amid the looming return of the latest cohort of 34 ISIS-linked women and children, Premier Jacinta Allan had assured the communities that she would \u201cwork very closely\u201d with them and that her number one priority was their safety. <\/p>\n
But George Aprim, a director of The Young Assyrians, said he felt their pleas for information and consultation had \u201cfallen on deaf ears\u201d. <\/p>\n
It came as it was revealed Rayann El Houli, who was charged with entering a declared conflict zone and being a member of a terrorist organisation on Thursday, had been living in Broadmeadows. <\/p>\n
Ms El Houli and her four children were among six people who quietly returned to Australia last year after smuggling themselves out of a Syrian camp.<\/p>\n
Her identity was revealed as she was arrested on Thursday. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur general community has been asking the government for some form of consultation about allowing anyone formerly or currently allegedly affiliated with ISIS for months,\u201d Mr Aprim said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut all done in secret.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Aprim said it was the unknown that was causing \u201cmassive concerns\u201d in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know who they are, where they\u2019re from, or if there are potentially family members who secretly support those groups as well,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe love our fellow Muslim neighbours and we all live in peace and harmony.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the way the state government is going about it is disappointing, and many community members express that disappointment regularly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another community member, who escaped ISIS as a child and wanted to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said it was upsetting that someone allegedly \u201cconnected to the darkness of ISIS\u201d was living so close. <\/p>\n
\u201cI built a life here because Australia represented distance from the fear and violence ISIS brought into our lives,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cChristians and other minorities who fled ISIS often carry their stories quietly. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe rebuilt our lives without wanting attention or pity. <\/p>\n
\u201cYet moments like this remind us that the pain never truly disappears, it simply learns how to stay silent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms El Houli appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday as her lawyer revealed plans to seek bail.<\/p>\n
It came as AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett revealed there were eight separate probes underway into families who have returned to Australia from Syrian camps. Two of the five ISIS-linked women who have returned to Melbourne this month have been charged, with the others under investigation. <\/p>\n
Opposition spokesperson for multicultural and multi-faith Affairs Evan Mulholland said it was \u201cstraight up negligence\u201d from the Allan government not to inform the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Liberals and Nationals stand firmly on the side of these survivors and will continue to advocate for their safety and protection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A Victorian Government spokesperson said whether the women and children come to Victoria and where they live was \u201cnot up to the State Government or Victoria Police\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Australian Federal Police are leading the national response to the women and children returning from camps in Syria,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Victoria Police are working closely with them on ensuring the safety of all Victorians.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we can do is support police and make sure they have the resources they need to keep the community safe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Melbourne-based ISIS bride was quietly living just minutes from survivors of the brutal terrorist regime she is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[269,594,297,23,133,20419,18898,20420,20412,1645,20413,1366,2139,20421,1646,7429,20411,260,8004,120,20418,20415,2043,276,20417,20416,20414,8868,68,282],"class_list":["post-21453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-abraham-abbas","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-asia","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-brutal-terrorist-regime","tag-carly-douglas","tag-christian-minority-groups","tag-community-leaders","tag-community-members","tag-declared-conflict-zone","tag-federal-government","tag-iraq","tag-isis-bride","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-krissy-barrett","tag-massive-concerns","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-airport","tag-oceania","tag-opposition-spokesperson","tag-revelations-prompting-outrage","tag-state-government","tag-syria","tag-terror-survivors","tag-terror-related-offences","tag-terrorist-group","tag-terrorist-organisation","tag-victoria","tag-western-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}