Islamic State bride accused of keeping a slave released on bail

A so-called ISIS bride accused of keeping a slave will be released on bail after a magistrate found her risk to the community could be managed with strict conditions, including that she does not possess firearms.

Chief Magistrate Lisa Hannan found that while Kawsar Ahmad, 54, supported Islamic State at one time she had not made statements supporting or advocating for terrorist acts that would make her an unacceptable risk if released.

Ahmad will have to live with her mother in community housing and must abide by a nightly curfew, report to police, not attend mosques or use social media and provide a $75,000 surety as part of her bail conditions.

The prosecution allege she was a long-time supporter of Islamic State and travelled to the Middle East with her family in August 2014, where she later worked as a religious leader, engaged in slavery and held an IS identification card.

The court heard that by January 2016, the Ahmad family were living in Syria. Videos of their home at the time show an IS flag on a wall and an AK-47 lying on the floor of their living room.

Police allege a 15-year-old Yazidi girl was forcibly taken from her village in 2014 and sold as a sex slave, traded among 17 IS soldiers.

In 2017, she was allegedly purchased by Kawsar Ahmad’s husband for $US10,000 and taken to the family home to be inspected by him and his wife.

He allegedly told the teen: “I bought you for the purpose of raping and at the same time, serving the home”.

Police allege Ahmad treated the complainant poorly, and asked her husband to beat the teen.

Ahmad was arrested, alongside her daughter Zeinab, at Melbourne Airport on their arrival back to Australian on May 7.

She is charged with crimes against humanity: enslavement, possessing and using a slave, and engaging in slave trading.

Her defence argued Ahmad returned to live a quiet life in Australia and had filed divorce proceedings against her husband.

She told a psychologist: “I’ve never agreed with their beliefs like kill, kill, kill. I’m not a supporter of Islamic State, my son was brainwashed. I hate them regardless. My husband was pulled in because of my son.”

The court heard that while in Syria, the doctor believes Ahmad identified with and was fixated by IS but that this was no longer the case.

“It’s very unlikely her views will resurface. She’s not concealing an ongoing devotion or attraction to IS,” the expert said.

Re-radicalisation, the court heard, was “vanishingly rare”.

In arguing for the bail, the accused woman’s lawyers had submitted that Ahmad lived with significant mental health disorders including PTSD and required the advice of her daughters to make decisions.

Ahmad smiled at her family seated in the courtroom, including a daughter and brother, as the bail decision was handed down.

Zeinab Ahmad was denied bail earlier this month when Hannan found there was no clear and compelling evidence that she had renounced her extremist views, and that there were no bail conditions that could make the risk of her release acceptable.

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