Families’ children victims of parents ‘evil choices’, says Anthony Albanese
Updated ,first published
Frustrated US government officials have condemned Australia’s reluctance to repatriate ISIS families as America seeks to close Syrian war camps
In a letter from a US State Department official seen exclusively by this imprint, a policy analyst said the US wants to “pressure countries to repatriate, especially in light of recent developments in the region.”
“I see that the Australian government has taken into account their opposition to repatriating them from the camp,” the official wrote.
The email comes from February, when an attempt to remove the group from the Al Roj camp was rejected and rebuffed.
“I can only imagine how frustrating their return to Roj was,” the official wrote.
Two sources close to the repatriation process confirmed that the US was interested in the repatriation process, while one source said the US government wanted to “close the camps”.
“They want to see people there return to their homes. The longer the camp remains there, the more resources will have to be put into it,” they said.
They also confirmed that the Syrian government supports the process and is investing in closing the camp.
The source said the group of Australian women and children currently in Damascus had been “released” to their families there and were in no rush to leave because they were “not being deported”.
They also confirmed that the group will likely fly in groups as there is no single family unit.
The source said the group felt “anxiety” about the entire process due to the Albanian government’s “strong language” on the issue, and especially the indication that they would be met with “the full force of the law.”
“They are afraid that this process will become politicized. Therefore, they feel some fear and anxiety about the messages coming from the government.”
Both sources requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
This comes after three leading Muslim institutions called on the government to allow a group of mothers and children linked to the Islamic State to return to their homes; The United States was also pushing for this after the prime minister said mothers were making their children victims of their “bad choices.”
The National Imams Council of Australia, the Muslim Legal Network and the Lebanese Muslim Association are pressing the government to allow the group to return to Australia.
A group of four women and nine children, all Australian citizens and currently in Damascus, have purchased tickets for their return flights.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday refused to provide additional details about the group’s return, insisting the intelligence information must remain secret and reiterating that his government had not offered any support.
As this imprint reported in December, the United States was urging other countries to bring their citizens back home. However, a prerequisite for Australians to be repatriated by the US military was that they held up-to-date passports, which the Australian government had consistently refused to issue until this year.
US interest in repatriating the group, which it frames as a move to clear the region of terrorist sympathizers as the Syrian government abandons its strident anti-US stance, could help the group’s chances of returning to Australia.
Imam Shadi Alsuleiman, head of the Council of Powerful Imams, said women and children “have the right to return to their homes, regardless of the legal consequences they may face upon their return.”
“We disagree with their decision to leave Australia and go to Syria at the time, but we believe that children, in particular, should not be punished for the actions of their parents,” he said.
“These children, like other Australian children, deserve the opportunity to return home and rebuild their lives.”
The Council of Imams is the central Islamic body in Australia, representing more than 350 imams across the country.
Also chair of the Muslim Legal Network in NSW, he said “return and repatriation is the only response that fully meets Australia’s obligations under international human rights law”.
The network’s president, Wael Skaf, said that if the government continued to stand in the way of the group’s return, they would be “actively complicit in the unlawful detention and collective punishment of hundreds of Australians, mostly women and young children, who do not find themselves in this position because of their own life choices.”
“We must not allow fear and politics to drive policy that shifts our responsibilities to other countries. We must uphold our international legal obligations, protect vulnerable Australians from all walks of life and trust the strength of our institutions to manage risk,” he said.
Gamel Kheir, secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs the Lakemba Mosque, harshly criticized the government’s response so far, saying the only reason the group had faced difficulties returning home was because “they are Muslims”.
“I want power, I want opposition, I want every man to look at himself and say, ‘What did these children do wrong? Why should they be abandoned?’ I want him to say “
The trio of Muslim groups constitutes the biggest backlash so far against the government’s belligerent stance on the group; Their intervention came after the prime minister said the children were “victims of their parents’ poor choices, evil choices to undermine Australia’s national interest”.
“My views have not changed about people choosing to go abroad and support ISIS over Australia when ISIS has the goal of establishing a caliphate to literally attack democracies like Australia,” Albanese told a news conference at Parliament House in Canberra.
This is the group’s second attempt to return to Australia this year after being turned away in February. They left Al Roj camp in northeastern Syria on Saturday. They were detained there for seven years following the collapse of the Islamic State caliphate.
A source close to the repatriation process, which is not facilitated by the government, confirmed to this outlet earlier this week that the women and children have plane tickets to Australia and plan to fly out of Damascus soon.
Asked if the group had received tickets, Albanese said: “I trust the work of the federal authorities to keep Australia safe and they continue to monitor these issues. But Australia is not providing any support to this group.”
“It’s probably best for security systems to operate safely. Our system does that and will continue to do that.”
In 2022, the Albanian government said Australia had a duty to bring the group home and give them a chance at rehabilitation.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Albanese rejected the idea that he had changed his mind about the group after reading comments in 2019 in which he said they had “made no choice” about the children involved traveling to the Middle East.
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Nick Newling is the federal politics correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: X or email.
Mostafa Rachwani is a Parramatta reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously a Community Affairs correspondent for Guardian Australia.Connect via email.
