Australia arrests three ISIS-linked women on arrival; repatriation flight ends years in Syrian camp

Australian border controls faced a rare and highly sensitive test on the evening of 7 May 2026, when two commercial flights touched down in Melbourne and Sydney carrying 13 women and children who had spent years in Syria’s al-Roj detention camp. Federal agents moved quickly: three of the women—identified by police as Kawsar Abbas (53), Zeinab Ahmed (31) and Janai Safar (32)—were arrested at the aerobridges and taken into custody. According to Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt of the Australian Federal Police’s counter-terrorism command, the Melbourne pair will be charged with multiple crimes against humanity, including enslavement and slave-trading, offences that each carry maximum 25-year jail terms. Safar, arrested in Sydney, is to be charged with membership of a terrorist organisation and entering a declared area, offences punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment. Investigators say the women travelled to Islamic-State-controlled territory in 2015 to join spouses who had left Australia to fight for ISIS. The operation follows months of negotiation between Canberra, Kurdish authorities and Qatari intermediaries to secure safe transit for Australian nationals stranded in Syrian camps. Canberra had previously been reluctant to bring the group home, citing security risks and the political backlash that accompanied an earlier repatriation round in 2023. Officials insist the decision was made on humanitarian grounds and in line with a 2024 Federal Court ruling that children of Australian citizens cannot be left in indefinite detention overseas.



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Security agencies began planning the reception weeks ago. Passengers were split across two Qatar Airways services routed through Doha so arrests could be staged at separate airports, minimising operational risk. All adult returnees were met on the tarmac by joint AFP–ASIO teams, while state child-protection officers escorted the seven minors to specialised accommodation where medical and psychological assessments are now under way. For global mobility managers the case is a reminder that Australia’s border can pivot from pandemic-era biosecurity to high-stakes national-security enforcement overnight. Corporate travel departments have been advised that heightened screening—particularly of passports previously used to travel to conflict zones—will continue at least through the weekend. Companies relocating staff into Australia this quarter should budget additional time for secondary inspection and ensure employees’ digital devices are scrubbed of any extremist content that might raise red flags at customs.