{"id":6973,"date":"2026-05-07T23:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/6973\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T23:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:09:11","slug":"two-isis-brides-charged-with-alleged-slavery-offences-after-returning-to-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/6973\/","title":{"rendered":"Two \u2018ISIS brides\u2019 charged with alleged slavery offences after returning to Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two so-called \u201c<\/a>ISIS brides\u201d<\/a> have been charged with alleged crimes against humanity just hours after arriving back in Australia from Syria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The women, aged 51 and 53, were arrested soon after their flight from Doha touched down at Melbourne International Airport on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

They had travelled from Syria amid an ongoing saga to return to Australia following their detainment by Kurdish forces in March 2019.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

Both will face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday, charged with a number of slavery allegations.<\/p>\n

Police will allege in 2014 the older woman travelled with her husband and children to Syria where she was \u201ccomplicit in the purchase of a female slave for US$10,000 and knowingly kept the woman in the home\u201d.<\/p>\n

She has been charged with enslavement, possessing a slave, using a slave and engaging in slave trading.<\/p>\n

The younger woman also allegedly travelled to Syria in 2014 with her family and kept a female slave in the home.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo so-called \u2018ISIS brides\u2019 have been charged just hours after arriving in Melbourne from Syria. Credit: AFP<\/p>\n

She was charged with enslavement and using a slave.<\/p>\n

Australian Federal Police say both women now face up to 25 years behind bars if convicted.<\/p>\n

Both women were detained by Kurdish forces in March 2019 before being held at a refugee camp with other family members.<\/p>\n

Another woman, 32, was arrested in Sydney<\/a> and charged with entering or remaining in a declared area and being a member of a terrorist organisation.<\/p>\n

Both offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years\u2019 imprisonment if convicted.<\/p>\n

She is expected to appear before a Sydney court on Friday.<\/p>\n

Political debate rages over \u2018ISIS brides\u2019<\/p>\n

The charges were laid after the federal government was earlier criticised for the handling of the return of the women and nine children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government should be doing everything it can to prevent them coming back to the country, and they haven\u2019t,\u201d Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"AA group of supporters surround an Islamic State-linked family as they arrive at Melbourne international Airport, in Melbourne, Thursday, May 7, 2026. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

The Australian government claims it didn\u2019t assist the group returning here, other than to provide passports as it would any Australian citizen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese women have been under investigation now for, I think, the best part of 10 years,\u201d Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not their first rodeo. The federal police have done this before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uncertain future for children of \u2018ISIS brides\u2019<\/p>\n

For the nine children arriving back in Australia, they face a future of supervised care, community integration programs and resettlement at an undisclosed location.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy all means, you want to imprison them, you want to put them in front of the courts, do so. However, I ask your viewers, what sin have the kids committed?\u201d the Lebanese Muslim Association\u2019s Gamel Kheir said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we have murderers, we rehabilitate them. Why can\u2019t we rehabilitate young kids?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mat Tinkler from Save the Children said, \u201csome kids may need more targeted de-radicalisation, reintegration or mental health support\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s been handled very poorly overall. They deserve our support. They are innocent and they are Aussies at the end of the day,\u201d Tinkler said.<\/p>\n

\"AA group of supporters surround an Islamic State-linked family as they arrive at Melbourne international Airport, in Melbourne, Thursday, May 7, 2026. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

NSW Premier Chris Minns agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids have got nothing to do with this,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cThey didn\u2019t make the decision to travel to Syria and the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minns and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan both confirmed state police would help monitor the returnees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m focused on is Victoria\u2019s community safety and that is the priority of Victoria Police,\u201d Allan said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Three \u2018ISIS brides\u2019 to face terror, slavery charges<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Enormous cost of monitoring returning ISIS brides revealed<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two so-called \u201cISIS brides\u201d have been charged with alleged crimes against humanity just hours after arriving back in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8375,1267,312,6872,8376,260,152,276,1845],"class_list":{"0":"post-6973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-australian-federal-police-afp","9":"tag-courts-justice","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-islamic-state-isis","13":"tag-melbourne","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-syria","16":"tag-vic-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6973","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=6973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}