How Australian families are bypassing the government to bring IS-linked women and children home
When a group of women and children arrived in Australia from a detention camp in Syria in early May, they were the first Islamic State-affiliated group in the world to be brought back by their families over their government’s objections.
Family lawyer Jamal Rifi confirmed that until then, Syrian authorities will return so-called ISIS brides to Western countries only with official government approval. It was a position that resulted in dozens of Australian women and children being held in squalid and dangerous conditions for seven years as successive governments refused to act.
The May transfer was a success, but the road to it was far from smooth.
Three months earlier, in February, Rifi and two of his supporters, armed with newly issued Australian passports, had helped 34 Australian women and children leave El Roj camp; but the Syrian government diverted them about 50 kilometers down the road and sent them back.
Syrian officials have made it clear that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will not allow women and children to board the plane because the Australian government will not accept them when they arrive.
This wasn’t exactly Albanese’s attitude, but he made it clear that hosting them in his home was the last thing he wanted to do. He repeatedly said he had “nothing but contempt” for them.
Fast forward three months and the Syrian government’s stance has reversed. On 7 May, grandmother Kawsar Abbas returned to Australia with her two daughters and a relative living in Sydney, Kawsar’s brother Abraham Abbas and another relative Ahmed Alameddine.
While Albanese suffered another stroke in Canberra, the Syrians agreed to the families’ plan, allowing the women and children to leave with their relatives. Family ties clearly made the path easier.
Now another move is being made. Late on Thursday night, Australian time, the remaining women and children left Roj by road, arriving in Damascus hours later. Australian representatives (family lawyers won’t say who) traveled there in the hope of returning them home as soon as possible.
Diplomatic, government and family advocates say families in other Western countries are now contacting Australian advocates to ask how this new kind of repatriation can be achieved.
So what changed between the February fiasco and the May success?
Rifi believes the Australian government’s stubbornness means Syrians have no choice. Others believe bigger moves are being made behind the scenes.
In November, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, visited the United States and was hosted in Washington. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch was excited that Syria “has become a partner of the United States.”
Even better, the former Muslim radical began befriending President Donald Trump, who gave him a bottle of his signature “Trump Victory” perfume. A few days ago, Trump sent out more scents, and the former militia leader tweeted his thanks, saying, “Some meetings leave an impression; ours apparently left a scent.”
Dr D., a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Melbourne. Dara Conduit says Syria needs America to lift its crippling sanctions. America needs a reliable government in a Middle Eastern country so Trump can reduce America’s security presence (and costs).
America is the key security guarantor in Syria’s Kurdish-run northeast, where the Roj detention camp is located. Syria wants to regain full control of this area and, according to Conduit, “the camps have been a thorn in the side of international forces for almost a decade.”
He says the indefinite detention of women and children is not only against international law, but also threatens the rebirth of the Islamic State’s “intergenerational plan” to form a new army and recruit recruits. The release of hardened men from prisons, known as the “Breaking Down the Walls” campaign, helped establish the militant group that emerged in 2012.
With this in mind, in September last year, US Admiral Brad Cooper called on Western countries to bring their citizens home and deal with them through their own justice systems. He insisted it would be “a decisive blow against ISIS’s ability to revive.”
It’s clear that America wants Australia to take action on the stranded ISIS brides. In a letter sent by a State Department official in February and quoted in this imprint, disappointment with the Albanian government’s intransigence on this issue was expressed. The United States wanted to “put pressure on countries to return, especially in light of recent developments in the region.”
The Albans’ failure to listen to Americans or accept responsibility for the welfare of Australian citizens speaks to a brutal political dynamic in this country. His attitude both reflects and likely fuels the hostility shown in this masthead’s Resolve survey.
But between the February fiasco and the comeback on May 7, something changed in Damascus. Australia does not currently have any diplomatic relations with Syria; In typical enclosure fashion, we neither extend nor hold back official recognition. This byline confirms that Penny Wong’s foreign affairs department had no contact with Syrian authorities regarding Australian women and children.
Therefore, some advocates believe that the United States is pressuring the Syrian government to give in and allow the women and children to leave with their family members. From America’s perspective, if this sets a precedent for other Western countries, that’s a good thing.
Now the remaining 5 women and 14 children have reached Damascus. Rifi would not confirm details about the people from Australia who will meet them there or about his group’s broader advocacy. “We don’t know from which door mercy comes,” he says, and adds: “We knocked on every door.”
But he is grateful to the Syrians. He says the Australian government is “endangering the lives of Australian children”, while the Syrians are “honorable people” who are “true to their word”.
“They assured us that, given time, they would do what we asked them to do,” he says. “That’s exactly what you’re seeing happening right now.”
The returnees – 14 children, two Melbourne women and five Sydney women – know the Australian Federal Police will likely be waiting for them and carry arrest warrants.
Putting an end to El Roj’s long ordeal is a risk they are all ready to face.
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Michael Bachelard is The Age’s senior writer and former deputy editor and research editor. He has worked in Canberra, Melbourne and Jakarta, written two books and won several awards for journalism, including the Gold Walkley.Connect with: X or email.
