Australia’s Department of Home Affairs has confirmed that a 13-member group of individuals linked to ISIS has entered the cities of Melbourne and Sydney.
Tony Burke, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, said the group includes four women and nine children who had been held in the Roj camp in Syria since 2019.
According to Australian officials, three women accompanied by eight children arrived in Melbourne on Thursday, 17th of Sawr (May 7), and another woman with her child was transferred to Sydney.
The group entering Melbourne includes Kosar Abbas, the family grandmother, and her daughters Zainab and Zahra Ahmad along with their eight children.
Kosar Abbas is the wife of Muhammad Ahmad, who previously ran a charity and was accused of sending money to ISIS through his foundation.
In 2019, reports indicated that Muhammad Ahmad was in a Syrian prison, but he denied these allegations.
The woman who arrived in Sydney with her nine-year-old son is identified as Janay Safar. She was a nursing student but left Australia in 2015 and later traveled to Syria, where she married an ISIS fighter.
Reports indicate that a total of 34 people, including wives, widows, and children of ISIS members, left the Roj camp in February, but the Australian government has not yet allowed all of them to enter. It is said that 21 others are still waiting for entry permits to Australia.
Following the expansion of ISIS activities in Syria and Iraq, hundreds of women from different countries went to ISIS-controlled areas to marry fighters of the group. Many countries now refuse to readmit these women and their children.
The Australian government has stated that returning women will face legal prosecution, and the children will participate in programs and training courses aimed at countering extremism.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
