‘ISIS brides’ return home to chaotic airport scenes
Three Australian women with links to Islamic State could appear in court as soon as Friday on slavery, crimes against humanity and terrorism charges after returning home after years in a Syrian refugee camp.
The trio are part of a larger group, including children, who boarded the plane in Damascus before touching down in Sydney and Melbourne on Thursday evening.
Years ago, women traveled to the Middle East with partners who wanted to fight on behalf of the Islamic State.
There were chaotic scenes upon their arrival: intermittent fights broke out in Melbourne between members of the media and a group of men, some wearing masks, who escorted some of the group to a waiting van.
Some of the men told the media to stop recording; Among them was one who shouted “turn off your cameras”.
Heavily armed police officers separated the groups and shouted orders to the crowd as they loaded women and children into vehicles.
In total, three women will be charged with eight offences, AFP Deputy Commissioner Stephen Nutt told reporters in Canberra on Thursday night.
They include a 53-year-old man arrested in Melbourne who faces four crimes against humanity: slavery charges, including the possession and use of slaves and the slave trade.
A 31-year-old woman also arrested in Melbourne faces two slavery charges.
A 32-year-old woman in Sydney has been charged with entering a declared area late on Thursday night and joining the Islamic State group.
The 32-year-old was expected to appear at Downing Center Local Court on Friday.
A trial date will be finalized once the other two are formally charged.
It was learned that the investigation into the group continues.
The senior AFP official did not respond to questions about the fate of the children, many of whom were born in prison camps in the Middle East notorious for poor conditions and the presence of extremist groups.
But the group of young people are expected to need significant support to help them adapt to life in Australia and to determine whether they have been radicalized abroad.
Some of the women traveled willingly to support partners who wanted to fight for the Islamic State, but advocates for the group say others were under pressure or traveled to the Middle East simply to keep their families together.
Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam said on Thursday there were still unanswered questions about the financial cost of returning the group to Australia, claiming it could cost up to $2 million a year to monitor each person.
“That’s a lot of money spent managing 13 people who I say we need to do more to prevent them from coming back in the first place,” he told Adelaide radio station FiveAA.
Education Minister Jason Clare said the government was confident in the ability of the federal police to protect the public from potential risks.
“This is not their first rodeo. The Federal Police have done this before,” he told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.
Mr Clare said it would take time for children to be able to go to school and take other steps to integrate into Australian society, and this would happen with police guidance.
The senior minister added that no one would sympathize with anyone who supports ISIS, but the young people involved had no choice about who their parents were and the trauma they experienced would be with them for a while.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
