Hours after arriving from a Syrian refugee camp, two women connected to the Islamic State were detained and accused of enslavement charges. They are now requesting their release into society.
After making a brief court appearance on Friday and being remanded in custody, Kawsar Ahmad, 53, and Zeinab Ahmad, 31, will apply for release in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday.
After spending years in a Syrian refugee camp, the two were among of a larger group of women and children who returned to Australia on Thursday amid tumultuous airport scenes.
Both of them are accused of several crimes against humanity and alleged acts of slavery in Syria.
Kawsar Ahmad, also known as Abbas, allegedly visited the area in 2014 with her husband and kids, according to detectives.
She allegedly participated in the purchase of a female slave for $10,000 USD and intentionally kept the lady in her house, according to the police.
She is accused of enslavement, owning a slave, employing a slave, and trading in slaves.
The 53-year-old is accused of enslaving, possessing, and using the slave at Mayadin, Hajin, Gharanji, Bahra, Abu Hamam, Walaa, and other locations in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zu between June 2017 and November 2018, according to charge sheets made public by the court.
Zeinab Ahmad and Kawsar Ahmad, also known as Abbas, will request bail on allegations of slavery.
Police also charged the younger Ahmad with enslavement and employing a slave offence during the same time period, alleging that she too knowingly held a female slave in her Syrian house.
The pair’s actions were “committed intentionally or knowingly as part of a widespread or systemic attack directed against a civil population,” according to the paper.
According to police, the two were taken into custody by Kurdish forces in 2019 and kept in the Al Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp among other family members.
Following an almost ten-year inquiry that started when the ladies flew to the Middle East with their accused boyfriends to fight for the Islamic State, they are among three returnees who have been charged.
After flying into Sydney, a third woman, Janai Safar, 32, was taken into custody and accused of being a member of a terrorist group and entering a forbidden location.
Because of the nature of the charges, she was denied bail and will appear in court again in July.
