{"id":8068,"date":"2026-05-09T12:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T12:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/8068\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T12:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T12:25:13","slug":"is-linked-families-could-receive-support-to-help-reintegration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/8068\/","title":{"rendered":"IS-linked families could receive support to help reintegration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Children with links to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/isis\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Islamic State\">Islamic State<\/a> will be asked to take part in deradicalisation programs after touching down in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/national\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Australia \">Australia<\/a> with four women on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n<p>The nine children, who are understood to be Australian citizens, are likely to receive taxpayer-funded support as part of their reintegration into Australian society.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>Three women &#8211; \ufeffJanai Safar, Kawsar Ahmad, also known as Abbas, and Zeinab Ahmad &#8211; were arrested at Sydney and Melbourne international airports when they arrived with the children on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/db2610f1-3fbb-4f48-87c6-4409ee1263e1.png\"   alt=\"Zahra Ahmad was flanked by supporters as she left Melbourne Airport on Thursday.\"\/>Zahra Ahmad was flanked by supporters as she left Melbourne Airport on Thursday. (Nine)<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/e50729e7-d913-4693-bd89-13a47fbe833d.png\"   alt=\"Kawsar Ahmad during her arrest at Melbourne Airport on May 7, 2026.\"\/>Kawsar Ahmad during her arrest at Melbourne Airport on May 7, 2026. (Australian Federal Police)<\/p>\n<p> A fourth woman, 33-year-old Zahra Ahmad, walked free from Melbourne Airport alongside the eight children the group was travelling with\ufeff.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Victoria Police and the AFP are now working very closely in relation to this matter,&#8221; Victorian Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said.<\/p>\n<p>The children living in Victoria are expected to be offered support from government services and will be &#8220;asked to undertake countering violent extremism programs&#8221;, a Victorian government spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>Zahra, the widow of an Islamic State recruiter, is expected to be monitored by local and federal police.<\/p>\n<p>She will be eligible for a range of support, such as rental assistance and parenting payments.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Clearly these people are Australian citizens, they have some rights in respect of that,&#8221; Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/c5029921-104d-4c39-8637-91cc0fd374d5.png\"   alt=\"Court sketches depict Kawsar Ahmad, also known as Abbas, and Zeinab Ahmad during appearances at Melbourne Magistrates Court on May 8, 2026.\"\/>Court sketches depict Kawsar Ahmad, also known as Abbas, and Zeinab Ahmad during bail applications in Melbourne on May 8, 2026. (Nine)<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Zeinab Ahmad and Abbas have been charged with slavery offences.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the first time Australian law is being used to prosecute citizens for allegations of slavery committed overseas.<\/p>\n<p>The mother and daughter will face a bail hearing in Melbourne on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Safar remains behind bars in NSW, on charges of entering a prohibited area and being a member of a terrorist organisation.<\/p>\n<p>A further 21 Australian women and children remain in refugee camps in north-eastern Syria.<\/p>\n<p>The federal government insists, like this latest group, that they are not being offered support to return to Australia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the Coalition was in government, we saw 40 people come back and not just brides, but actual ISIS fighters come back to this country,&#8221; Marles said.<\/p>\n<p>NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children with links to Islamic State will be asked to take part in deradicalisation programs after touching down&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[260],"class_list":{"0":"post-8068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-melbourne"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8068","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=8068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}