A pair of women with alleged ties to the Islamic State, recently apprehended and charged with slavery-related offenses after returning from a Syrian refugee camp, are seeking to be released into the community.
Kawsar Ahmad, aged 53, and Zeinab Ahmad, 31, are scheduled to submit a bail application on Monday at the Melbourne Magistrates Court. This follows a brief court session on Friday where they were ordered to remain in custody.
The women were part of a larger cohort of females and children who arrived back in Australia on Thursday, after spending years in a Syrian refugee camp. Their return was marked by chaotic scenes at the airport.
Both face charges related to crimes against humanity and slavery, allegedly committed during their time in Syria.
Investigators claim that Kawsar Ahmad, who is also known by the name Abbas, traveled to the conflict region with her spouse and children in 2014.
She is accused of participating in the purchase of a female slave for $10,000 USD and knowingly harboring the woman in her residence.
She has been charged with enslavement, possessing a slave, using a slave and slave trading.
Charge sheets released by the court allege the 53-year-old enslaved, possessed and used the slave in Mayadin, Hajin, Gharanji, Bahra, Abu Hamam, Walaa and other places in the Deir ez-Zu province of Syria between June 2017 and November 2018.
It is alleged the younger Ahmad had also knowingly kept a female slave in her Syrian home, with police charging her with enslavement and using a slave offences over the same period.
The document stated the pair’s conduct was “committed intentionally or knowingly as part of a widespread or systemic attack directed against a civil population”.
Police said the pair were detained by Kurdish forces in 2019 and held with other family members in Al Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp.
They are among three returnees charged following an almost decade-long investigation, which began after the women travelled to the Middle East with their partners who allegedly intended to fight for Islamic State.
A third woman, 32-year-old Janai Safar, who flew into Sydney, was arrested and charged with entering a prohibited area and being a member of a terrorist organisation.
She was denied bail due to the seriousness of the charges and will return before the court in July.
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