Janai Safar expected to be arrested at Sydney Airport
Updated ,first published
The father of Janai Safar, one of the so-called “ISIS brides” returning to Australia, is expected to try to meet his daughter at Sydney Airport in the expectation that she will be arrested by police shortly after landing on Thursday evening.
Safar, who has previously vowed not to return to Australia, will come to Sydney with his 9-year-old son, who was born in Syria and has spent his entire life living in Islamic State-controlled areas or Syrian detention camps.
A separate family group of three women and eight children, including grandmother Kawsar Abbas and her daughters Zahra and Zeinab Ahmed, will arrive in Melbourne on Thursday evening after transiting through Doha.
A source close to the family said they were unsure what crimes Safar might be charged with, but speculated it could be related to crimes of entering a designated exclusion zone or foreign aggression.
The former nursing student said in 2019 she would never return to Australia because she feared being treated like a criminal, jailed and her son taken away.
“It was my decision to come here to get away from where women were naked on the street. I don’t want my son to grow up like this,” Safar said. Australian.
“I didn’t educate anyone, I didn’t kill anyone. I just sat at home, they will put me in jail, they will take my child away from me. Why? I am a Muslim.”
While the coalition accused the government of failing to prevent women from returning to Australia, Education Minister Jason Clare declared he was confident in the Australian Federal Police’s ability to integrate children into Australian society.
“They know what they’re doing. This isn’t their first rodeo,” Clare told ABC News Breakfast.
“I trust the words of the AFP Commissioner yesterday when he said that some of these women will be arrested when they arrive, while others will be subject to further investigation.”
Clare said children trapped in camps deserved the chance to start a new life in Australia.
“Children don’t get to choose who their parents are, and these children have seen things that no child should ever be exposed to,” he said. “It will take time for these children to reintegrate into Australian society.”
Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said the expected return of some ISIS brides to the state today was an “unacceptable threat to the safety and social cohesion of the community”.
“Victorian Liberals and Citizens believe that any adult who leaves Australia to join a barbaric terrorist organization should not be welcomed back into our state,” Ms Wilson said.
“Victorians need certainty and reassurance. Prime Minister Allan must immediately explain what measures will be taken to manage these individuals and ensure that public safety will not be compromised by their return.”
Lebanese Muslim Association Secretary Gamel Kheir has described the political debate over the return to Australia of 13 women and children with links to the Islamic State as “disgusting”.
“I’m not their defender, but I’m an advocate for the rule of law,” he said. “If they are guilty, put them in jail but they are Australian citizens and the law should not be applied selectively. They have the right to return home.”
Kheir said children trapped in camps in northern Syria played no role in their location and deserved to be rehabilitated and start a new life in Australia.
“It’s disgusting that politicians are trying to gain political benefit from this. This issue has become Islamophobic for everyone,” he said.
Opposition defense spokesman James Paterson said: “I think a lot of Australians will be uneasy to learn that these could be their next door neighbours.”
Paterson told Sky News: “The revelation that some of these people will be charged with criminal offenses when they arrive in Australia is evidence of why they should not be issued passports and why provisional removal orders should be imposed to protect our country. But Labor clearly wanted these people to return to the country secretly and today they have granted that wish.”
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Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: X, Facebook 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.
