Australia charges alleged ISIL-linked woman after return from Syria

Case follows repatriation of women and children held for years in Syrian camps without trial.

Australia has charged a woman with alleged links to the ISIL (ISIS) group after she returned from Syria, as authorities intensify investigations into nationals repatriated from detention camps.

Police said the 34-year-old arrived in the country in September alongside another woman and is due to appear in a Melbourne court on Thursday. She faces charges of being a member of a “terrorist” organisation and entering a declared conflict zone.

Federal police Assistant Commissioner Hilda Sirec said both offences carry potential sentences of up to 10 years in prison.

Sirec said the woman travelled to Syria in 2013 or 2014 and was later detained by Kurdish forces in 2019 before being held in al-Hol camp along with her family.

Authorities announced the charges as more women and children returned to Australia this month after years in Roj camp in northeast Syria, where families of ISIL fighters have been held since 2019 without a formal legal process.

Officials said all adult returnees remain under investigation.

“A period of time without charges being laid is not an indicator that investigations have ceased,” Sirec said.

Among the latest arrivals, three women face additional charges, including crimes against humanity.

Police have also charged Kawsar Ahmad and Zeinab Ahmad, a mother and daughter who arrived earlier this month, with enslavement-related offences.

Another returnee, Janai Safar, has been charged with entering a declared conflict zone and joining ISIL.

At the height of its power in 2015, ISIL controlled territory across Syria and Iraq, roughly equivalent in size to the United Kingdom.

Authorities believe the latest group to arrive in Sydney and Melbourne includes the last remaining Australians previously held in Roj camp.

The repatriations have caused political debate, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying the government did not assist their return and warning, “If you make your bed, you lie in it.”

Advocacy groups argue Australia must uphold the right of its citizens to return, particularly for children who, they say, should not bear responsibility for their parents’ actions.