Australia has arrested its first suspected Isis bride two months after she was repatriated from Syria with government assistance.
Anthony Albanese’s government returned 17 women and children of dead or jailed Isis members from Syria in October last year.
Mariam Raad, the wife of Australia’s once leading Isis recruiter, was repatriated from the al-Roj refugee camp in northeast Syria, along with her four children. She has since been living in New South Wales, closely monitored by security agencies.
Police will allege Raad, 31, travelled to Syria willingly and was aware of her now dead husband’s Isis recruiting activities.
“It will be alleged in court that the woman travelled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband, who left Australia in 2013 and joined Islamic State,” a police statement said.
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“It will also be alleged the woman was aware of her husband’s activities with Islamic State, and willingly travelled to the conflict region.”
Raad was taken into custody and will face a court tomorrow. She and her children — two boys born in Australia and two girls born in Syria — spent three years in refugee camps in northeast Syria.
Raad was in the same Syrian refugee camp as Shamima Begum, who ran away from home to join Isis at the age of 15 with three other schoolgirls from Bethnal Green, east London.
Begum has brought a high-profile legal challenge against the UK government’s decision to revoke her citizenship.
Muhammad Zahab, the father of Raad’s children, was a former Australian maths teacher turned Isis recruiter who is credited with luring dozens of relatives to join him in Syria. He is believed to have been killed in an airstrike in 2018.
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Other members of the group of 17 women and children repatriated last year may also be charged, The Australian newspaper reported.
“Individuals will be brought before the courts when evidence supports allegations that returned individuals have committed offences in conflict areas,” an Australian federal police statement issued today said.
