The legal battles mark the first major court test for the Australian women repatriated from the al-Roj detention camp in northeast Syria after the collapse of Islamic State.<\/p>\n
Ms Abbas, 54, and her daughter Zeinab were arrested by the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team moments after landing at Melbourne Airport on Thursday night last week following their dramatic return to Australia.<\/p>\n
Police allege Ms Abbas travelled to Syria in 2014 with her husband and children and helped purchase a Yazidi woman for $US10,000 before knowingly keeping the woman as a slave in the family home.<\/p>\n
She has been charged with four crimes against humanity offences: enslavement, possessing a slave, using a slave and engaging in slave trading. Each offence carries a maximum penalty of 25 years\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Zeinab is also accused of keeping a Yazidi woman as a slave after travelling to Syria with her family in 2014. She has been charged with enslavement and using a slave, offences also carrying maximum penalties of 25 years in prison.<\/p>\n
Another of Ms Abbas\u2019 daughters, Zahra Ahmad, was released into the community and had not been charged with any offences after landing in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
During their first court appearance on Friday, high-profile criminal defence lawyer Bill Doogue indicated both women would apply for a bail on Monday. Commonwealth prosecutor Andrew Sprague told chief magistrate Lisa Hannan he would seek suppression orders to protect the identities of the alleged Yazidi victims.<\/p>\n
More to come…<\/p>\n
Mohammad Alfares is a journalist based in the Melbourne bureau of The Australian, where he covers breaking news, politics, legal affairs, and religious issues. He began filming and editing homemade ‘productions’ as a child \u2014 an early sign of his future in journalism. He holds a Bachelor of Communication from Massey University in New Zealand and began his career in broadcast news before transitioning to print. Outside the newsroom, Mohammad is an avid fisherman and adrenaline-seeker. When he\u2019s not chasing a big catch, he enjoys unwinding with a good coffee, fresh air, and a ride on his motorbike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ISIS widows and accused slave owners Kawsar Abbas and her daughter Zeinab Ahmad will be remanded in custody…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10244,10253,594,10260,10258,297,22,23,133,1758,10248,21,10246,10261,4810,10263,10259,10254,10255,8225,368,10257,10262,10252,8297,10245,10250,3775,260,8004,355,120,10256,10251,247,276,68,282,10249,10247],"class_list":["post-8878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-abraham","tag-accused-slave-owners","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-andrew-sprague","tag-armoured-police-vehicle","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-federal-police","tag-australian-women","tag-austrlia","tag-bail-application","tag-bill-doogue","tag-chief-magistrate","tag-commonwealth-prosecutor","tag-court-appearance","tag-court-bail-hearing","tag-criminal-defence-lawyer","tag-family-home","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-high-profile-criminal-defence","tag-humanity-offences","tag-isis-widows","tag-kawsar-abbas","tag-kawsar-ahmad","tag-lisa-hannan","tag-martin-keep","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-airport","tag-new-south-wales","tag-oceania","tag-slave-charges","tag-slavery-charges","tag-sydney","tag-syria","tag-victoria","tag-western-asia","tag-zahra-ahmad","tag-zeinab-ahmad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8878","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=8878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mohammad](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alfares_mohammad.png\")
<\/a>Mohammad Alfares<\/a>Journalist<\/p>\n