Three women with alleged links to ISIS are expected to be charged with a raft of offences including crimes against humanity and being a member of a terrorist organisation.<\/p>\n
The women were arrested after two flights carrying alleged ISIS brides and their children arrived in Australia from Qatar on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
AFP Assistant Commissioner Counter Terrorism Stephen Nutt said it was expected a 53-year-old woman who arrived in Melbourne would be charged with four counts of crimes against humanity – including enslavement, possess a slave, use a slave and engage in slave trading, while a 31-year-old is also expected to be charged with two counts of crimes against humanity – including enslavement and use a slave.<\/p>\n
Both offences carry a maximum penalty of 25 years jail.<\/p>\n
They will front court in Victoria on Friday.<\/p>\n
A 32-year-old woman arrested in Sydney is expected to be charged with entering and remaining in a declared area, and being a member of a terrorist organisation, he said. <\/p>\n
In Melbourne, crazy scenes erupted as a burly security team ushered out another of the alleged Isis brides and multiple children, pushing past waiting media at the terminal to a mini bus.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Nutt said the alleged offence of enslavement involved \u201casserting control over the rights of a person\u201d.<\/p>\n
He was tight-lipped about the specific nature of the charges due to the pending court proceedings, but told media that they allegedly occurred in Syria.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Nutt also did not discuss any details surrounding the children and did not comment about temporary exclusion orders.<\/p>\n
\u201cSafety of the community is the number one community for all agencies involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
No assistance was provided to any of the women.<\/p>\n
The woman detained in Sydney – Janai Safar – was taken into custody by Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers and to a police station.<\/p>\n
A group of men dressed in hoodies and wearing face coverings, who are believed to be supporters, gathered at the arrivals gate waiting for the group to pass through.<\/p>\n
Some of the men, who were waiting at Melbourne Airport\u2019s terminal 2, said they would be providing \u201csecurity\u201d and escorting the women and their children. <\/p>\n
Passengers who disembarked from the Qatar Airways flight in Sydney said they were told by cabin crew to remain seated on the aircraft as several uniformed police officers boarded the plane. <\/p>\n
One passenger, Lina, said she saw a man, a woman and a child escorted off the plane from their economy seats, and several police cars waiting on the tarmac.<\/p>\n
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed on Wednesday four women and nine children had made plans to travel home.<\/p>\n
The Albanese government has insisted the cohort has received no assistance from Australia and will face the \u201cfull force of the law\u201d upon arrival. <\/p>\n
The Australian reported overnight those returning included Sydney nursing student Janai Safar and her son, Melbourne grandmother Kawsar Abbas, her adult daughters Zahra and Zeinab, and their respective children.<\/p>\n
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett earlier said some individuals in the group would be arrested after landing in the country, while others would continue to be investigated.<\/p>\n
She said children would be asked to participate in \u201ccommunity integration programs, therapeutic support, and countering violent extremism\u201d programs. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than a decade, investigators, when possible, have been collecting evidence and information in Syria at a time when Syria was a war zone with no functioning government,\u201d Ms Barrett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat evidence and information was to determine whether Australians who travelled to Syria may have committed Commonwealth offences, including terrorism offences such as entering, or remaining in, declared areas, and crimes against humanity offences, such as engaging in slave trading.\u201d <\/p>\n
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, speaking to 2GB on Thursday morning, confirmed NSW Police would have a heavy presence at Sydney Airport ahead of some of the group\u2019s arrival. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the announcement has had significant public interest. So we\u2019ll certainly have a policing presence, as will the (Australian Federal Police), just to make sure there\u2019s no breach of the peace,\u201d he said.
\u201cJust to make sure that any people that may attend in support or against the people returning to Australia aren\u2019t unruly and behave.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr Lanyon was also asked what would happen to children in the group, if their accompanying adult was arrested. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe would work very closely with any relatives of that child, or certainly, if not, the Department of Communities and Justice will work closely to make sure that child is taken care of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important we take care of any children who may be present.\u201d<\/p>\n
NSW Premier Chris Minns echoed this sentiment, saying: \u201cThe kids have got nothing to do with this.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t make the decision to travel to Syria and the Middle East. And we\u2019ve got an obligation to make sure that they\u2019re safe,\u201d Mr Minns said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs it relates to the parents \u2026 it was a shocking thing to do to go and join what is the most repugnant, horrible, ideological, violent terrorist organisation, perhaps the world has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advocates have urged state and federal authorities to ensure the group\u2019s human rights are respected, with Amnesty International spokesman Zaki Haidari saying it is essential regardless of \u201chow difficult or sensitive\u201d the situation may be. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese women and children were detained arbitrarily and they have a right to be treated with humanity and dignity,\u201d Mr Haidari said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn particular, these children were the victims and under international law, the interest of children is a primary consideration and they have a right to safety and a future.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while the welfare of these children was a concern, opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam told Sky News the government could not \u201cignore a risk that may present in children that have either gone there very young, and grown up among the ISIS view of the world \u2026 or have been born there\u201d. <\/p>\n
He also pointed to a report in The Australian alleging the family of one of the women travelling to Australia kept a Yazidi woman as a slave in Syria, saying the government could not \u201cturn a blind eye\u201d to the claim.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard some hideous reports and allegations of links to the families associated with some of the ISIS brides around the enslavement of Yazidi, a group of whom live now here in Australia, having fled those associated with ISIS,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three women with alleged links to ISIS are expected to be charged with a raft of offences including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[260,2054],"class_list":{"0":"post-6786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-melbourne","9":"tag-newswire-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6786","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=6786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}