Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said that a so-called “ISIS bride” who was issued a return permit by the Australian government may not return to Australia.
Hodan Abby and her nine-year-old daughter are believed to be the final members of a cohort which has actively petitioned the Australian Government for repatriation from Syrian detention camps since 2019.
Mr Burke in February issued a two-year Temporary Exclusion Order against Abby, blocking her return on national security grounds.
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She had travelled to the airport with the most recent group to return but was denied access to the flight she had booked.
Last month her temporary exclusion order was revoked, paving the path for her return to Australia with her daughter.
On Monday, the ABC reported that Abby was an enforcer of Sharia law at the camps where she was held in Syria, alleging that she organised arranged marriages, solicited donations, and allegedly hit a woman with a hammer in 2021.
When Mr Burke was asked on ABC Breakfast on Monday if he was aware of this and if it was why a temporary exclusion order had been put in place, he did not directly answer.
“There is a reason why only one person met the threshold for an exclusion order while our authorities made sure they were ready,” he said.
“Anybody who made a decision to go and join ISIS made an absolutely horrific decision and we’ve got no interest in doing anything to help any of them back but certainly if you also reach the threshold of exclusion order then… you are in a different situation to the rest of the cohort.”
At least 16 ISIS brides have returned since 2022, including 10 in May alone, landing in Sydney and Melbourne.
Several have been charged with terror-related offences and crimes against humanity.
When Mr Burke was asked if he know where Abby was and why she had not yet returned to Australia, he said it was possible she may not return to Australia.
“Our agencies are aware of her location,” he said.
“She may well, having seen some people who returned be arrested on arrival at the airport, she’d be weighing up the different things that she’s done and would be making a decision as to whether or not she ever returns.”
Mr Burke said that if she did return to Australia, he was confident government agencies were prepared to act.
“Sometimes people have been arrested at the airport, sometimes – as you’ve seen as well – we’ve continued to collect evidence after their arrival and the arrests have happened later,” he said.
“Anybody who has been part of that ideology gets the full attention from our agencies that the public would expect to keep people safe.”
