Australian woman charged over alleged ISIS links after Syria travel

An Australian woman has been charged with travelling to Syria and joining the Islamic State (IS) group after returning to the country from the Middle East, police said.

The 34-year-old was arrested at her Melbourne home eight months after she returned to Australia via Lebanon with another woman, according to Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Hilda Sirec, ABC reports. 

The arrest comes amid a series of recent returns of women and children from Syrian displacement camps linked to IS. Earlier this week, seven women and 12 children arrived in Australia from a camp in Syria, followed by another group of four women and nine children from the same Roj camp, located near the Syria–Türkiye–Iraq border region.

Police said several of the returning women remain under investigation. Three women who returned in earlier repatriations were charged with slavery and terrorism-related offences and remain in custody.

Authorities allege the woman charged in Melbourne travelled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 to join IS, was later captured by Kurdish forces in 2019, and was held in displacement camps before returning to Australia on September 26. She is facing charges of entering and remaining in a declared conflict zone and joining a terrorist organisation, each carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

She was expected to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on May 28.

Another woman who returned with her from Lebanon is also under investigation, police said, adding that the absence of charges does not indicate an end to inquiries.

Additional cases linked to recent repatriations include separate charges filed against other returnees, including allegations of slavery and terrorism-related offences connected to IS activity in Syria.

By Sabina Mammadli