#Australian police arrest a woman in New South Wales on charges of joining #ISIS in #Syria in 2014. https://t.co/jvZ3I26Zze
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) January 5, 2023
The Australian Police detained on Thursday a woman on charges of entering Syria to live with her husband who was a bully boy of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
Organization (ISIS).
The woman, Mariam Raad, has been arrested by the Australian Federal Police in cooperation with the Counter-Terrorism team of New South Wales, the police said in a statement.
The authorities said she traveled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband Mohammad Zahab who left Australia in 2013 to engage in the ranks of ISIS.
The woman was repatriated to Australia in October 2022 from the al-Roj refugee camp in northeastern Syria, the police statement said.
Shoulda left her there to rot
The police said they started investigations when she was still in Syria and continued after her return to Australia.
The arrest took place after Australian authorities obtained evidence allowed them to charge the woman.
She has been charged of entering and remaining in ISIS-held areas in Syria, despite being aware of the implications. She faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison if proven guilty.
According to Australian Media, Raad will appear in Griffith Local Court on Friday to apply for release on bail.
Her husband Muhammad Zahab is believed to have been killed five years after reaching Syria and joining ISIS.
| The Guardian adds: |
Australian Federal Police and NSW Police investigators from the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team executed warrants at her home and a home in Parklea, in Sydney’s northwest, where a relative lives.
She faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted.
Raad faced Griffith local court via an audio-visual link on Friday after being held in custody in Wagga.
She was granted bail on Friday and was forced to surrender her passport.
Among 12 bail conditions, she was banned from contacting anyone in prison or associated with a terrorist group, barred from viewing or distributing material on things including terrorism and related propaganda, and cannot attempt to acquire a firearm.
She’s due to appear at Young local court on 15 March.
Margaret Roles, the mayor of Hilltops Council, which oversees Young, said it wasn’t known that Raad was in the community and declined to comment further as the matter is before the courts.
“We’ve been a diverse but inclusive community for a long time,” Cr Roles said on Friday.
The husband, a former Sydney maths teacher who rose through the ranks of the terror outfit, is believed to have died in Syria in 2018.
The woman was until last year living in the Al Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp in northern Syria, which has been under Kurdish control since the defeat of IS.
Raad was one of four women and 13 children repatriated from the Syrian camp to Sydney in October last year.
All of the women were married to IS fighters who are now dead or in jail.
The NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team comprises members of the AFP, NSW Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the NSW Crime Commission.
| And from the Daily Mail: |