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An Australian mother and daughter “kept a female slave” after travelling to Syria in 2014 to support the Islamic State group, police said Friday as the pair faced charges in Melbourne.
The women returned to Australia on Thursday after years spent in a Syrian detention camp, where they were stranded after Islamic State’s collapse.
Counter-terrorism forces arrested Kawsar Ahmad, 53, and her daughter Zeinab, 31, immediately after their Qatar Airways flight landed at Melbourne International airport.
Police accused the women of “crimes against humanity” while living under Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate.
Kawsar Ahmad was “complicit in the purchase of a female slave for US$10,000”, the Australian Federal Police said.
She faces a raft of charges including “enslavement” and engaging in “slave trading”.
Her daughter Zeinab had “knowingly kept a female slave in the home”, police said.
A bail hearing for the women will be held in Melbourne on Monday.
The mother and daughter were detained by Kurdish forces in 2019 as Islamic State’s caliphate crumbled.
They were held in Syria’s notorious Roj camp for years before their repatriation to Australia.
‘Lawless barbarity’
In total, four women and their nine children flew back to Australia from Syria on Thursday.
Janai Safar, 32, was arrested after touching down in Sydney with her son.
She was charged with entering a restricted area and joining a “terrorist organisation”.
Safar travelled to Syria in 2015 to join her husband, who was a member of the Islamic State group, police said.
She too had spent years in a Syrian detention camp after Islamic State was vanquished.
“She has a nine-year-old son. They have lived in truly horrific conditions in refugee camps for many years,” defence lawyer Michael Ainsworth told a court hearing.
Safar, who seemed sombre as she appeared on screen from a prison in western Sydney, was refused bail.
A fourth woman travelling with the group was not arrested.
“One of the things that divides our society from the lawless barbarity of ISIS is that we believe in the rule of law,” Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, using a common term for the Islamic State group.
“I have absolutely zero sympathy for these people.
“I do have sympathy for the children though, who are victims of decision their parents have made.”
‘Horrific choice’
As Islamic State rose to power in the early 2010s, Australia made it an offence to travel to strongholds such as Raqqa province in Syria.
Hundreds of women from Western nations were lured to the Middle East as the Islamic State group gained prominence in the early 2010s, in many cases following husbands who had signed up as jihadist fighters.
Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and others are still grappling with how to treat citizens stranded after the group collapsed.
Widely known as the “ISIS brides”, the case has stirred strong feelings in Australia.
Australia’s Human Rights Commission urged the government in March to help repatriate 34 women and children stuck in Syria’s notorious Roj detention camp.
But others have accused the women of turning their back on Australia and believe they should be left to face the consequences.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has accused the returning Australian women of making “a horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation”.
They are not the first Australian citizens to return from Syria’s refugee camps.
Small groups of women and children flew back to Australia in 2019, 2022 and 2025.
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An Australian mother and daughter “kept a female slave” after travelling to Syria in 2014 to support the Islamic State group, police said Friday as the pair faced charges in Melbourne.
The women returned to Australia on Thursday after years spent in a Syrian detention camp, where they were stranded after Islamic State’s collapse.
Counter-terrorism forces arrested Kawsar Ahmad, 53, and her daughter Zeinab, 31, immediately after their Qatar Airways flight landed at Melbourne International airport.
Police accused the women of “crimes against humanity” while living under Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate.
Kawsar Ahmad was “complicit in the purchase of a female slave for US$10,000”, the Australian Federal Police said.
She faces a raft of charges including “enslavement” and engaging in “slave trading”.
Her daughter Zeinab had “knowingly kept a female slave in the home”, police said.
A bail hearing for the women will be held in Melbourne on Monday.
The mother and daughter were detained by Kurdish forces in 2019 as Islamic State’s caliphate crumbled.
They were held in Syria’s notorious Roj camp for years before their repatriation to Australia.
‘Lawless barbarity’
In total, four women and their nine children flew back to Australia from Syria on Thursday.
Janai Safar, 32, was arrested after touching down in Sydney with her son.
She was charged with entering a restricted area and joining a “terrorist organisation”.
Safar travelled to Syria in 2015 to join her husband, who was a member of the Islamic State group, police said.
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She too had spent years in a Syrian detention camp after Islamic State was vanquished.
“She has a nine-year-old son. They have lived in truly horrific conditions in refugee camps for many years,” defence lawyer Michael Ainsworth told a court hearing.
Safar, who seemed sombre as she appeared on screen from a prison in western Sydney, was refused bail.
A fourth woman travelling with the group was not arrested.
“One of the things that divides our society from the lawless barbarity of ISIS is that we believe in the rule of law,” Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, using a common term for the Islamic State group.
“I have absolutely zero sympathy for these people.
“I do have sympathy for the children though, who are victims of decision their parents have made.”
‘Horrific choice’
As Islamic State rose to power in the early 2010s, Australia made it an offence to travel to strongholds such as Raqqa province in Syria.
Hundreds of women from Western nations were lured to the Middle East as the Islamic State group gained prominence in the early 2010s, in many cases following husbands who had signed up as jihadist fighters.
Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and others are still grappling with how to treat citizens stranded after the group collapsed.
Widely known as the “ISIS brides”, the case has stirred strong feelings in Australia.
Australia’s Human Rights Commission urged the government in March to help repatriate 34 women and children stuck in Syria’s notorious Roj detention camp.
But others have accused the women of turning their back on Australia and believe they should be left to face the consequences.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has accused the returning Australian women of making “a horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation”.
They are not the first Australian citizens to return from Syria’s refugee camps.
Small groups of women and children flew back to Australia in 2019, 2022 and 2025.
By AFP