sydneyReuters —
Australian police said on Friday that two women linked to the Islamic State group had been charged with slavery offenses after returning overnight from Syria, where they had been held in a refugee camp for more than seven years.
The women, aged 53 and 31, have been charged with crimes against humanity, including owning and using slaves in Syria, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. They were arrested at Melbourne Airport upon arrival on Thursday.
“This remains an active investigation into very serious allegations,” Australian Federal Police Deputy Counter-Terrorism Commissioner Stephen Nutt said in a statement.
Police said both women traveled to Syria with their families in 2014 and are suspected of keeping female slaves in their homes. Reuters could not immediately reach the woman or her lawyer.
Separately, a 32-year-old Australian woman was arrested at Sydney Airport on Thursday and charged with terrorism-related offences, including suspicions of joining Islamic State. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and she is due to appear in a Sydney court on Friday.
Police said the woman traveled to Syria in 2015 to join her husband, who had previously left Australia to join ISIS.
The government announced earlier this week that four women and nine children were scheduled to return to Australia from a Syrian camp without official assistance.
Officials declined to comment on the status of the fourth woman or children.
The arrival of the women and children has put pressure on the centre-left government, with critics accusing it of not doing enough to prevent their return. But the government said there were “very serious limitations” on what authorities could do to prevent Australian nationals from re-entering the country.
Following the territorial defeat of ISIS, many relatives of the suspected fighters were detained in camps in Syria.
In January, after the collapse of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the United States began moving captured ISIS members out of Syria who were guarding about a dozen facilities housing civilians, including fighters and foreigners.
The Australian government repatriated four women and 13 children from camps in Syria in 2022. About 21 Australians remain at the Alroy camp, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
