The uncle of an ISIS bride accused of calling for the death of all non-believers says he will take his niece in if she’s released into the community, cursing as he aired his views on the terror organisation.
Abraham Abbas, a self-employed mechanic, stood before a magistrate on Friday offering a $75,000 surety and vowing to support and house his niece, Zeinab Ahmad, and her daughter in the five-bedroom home he shares with his own family.
Abbas said he had met and formed a bond with his niece’s daughter since their return to Australia last month, and he planned to support them both financially until they get on their feet.
When asked about his view of Islamic State, the terror group which Ahmad is accused of supporting, he told Chief Magistrate Lisa Hannan: “I hate those bastards, sorry your honour, I do. Sorry for the swearing. They’re evil, and they don’t represent anything we stand for.”
Zeinab Ahmad, 31, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for the second day of her bail application accused of travelling to Syria with family and keeping a young Yazidi slave whom they bought for $US10,000 ($14,000) and abused.
Her mother, Kawsar Abbas, 54, was arrested alongside Zeinab at Melbourne Airport after the family returned to Australia last month and charged with knowingly using a slave for more than a year, from June 2017 to November 2018.
Her uncle was named as the person pictured confronting media outside the airport, allegedly pushing a camera into the photographer’s face, as he helped whisk a third woman, Kirsty Rosse-Emile, and her two children away from the terminal.
On Thursday, the court heard the complainant was taken captive when she was 15 and sold and traded as a sex slave among 17 different IS members.
In 2017, she told police she was bought by the Ahmad family with the accused woman’s father telling the girl he had bought her for “the purpose of raping” and housework. She then slept in the same bedroom as Zeinab Ahmad and went on to be abused by the man multiple times.
Detective Senior Constable Marc Clendenning raised serious concerns about Zeinab Ahmad being released on bail, telling the court police were unaware of her current ideological views.
“There’s a lot of unknowns with the accused’s current state of ideology,” he said.
Zeinab Ahmad’s legal team suggested their client could be subjected to a control order if released, allowing tighter controls and supervision from federal authorities on her movements and interactions.
She was also willing to submit to monitoring with an electronic ankle bracelet, the court heard.
But Clendenning said only those whose charges had been finalised could be subjected to a control order, pointing to the case of Melbourne nurse Adam Brookman, who admitted to breaching Australia’s counter-terror laws.
The detective accepted it was the first time charges of this kind had been laid in Australia but denied this would lead to a delay in court proceedings.
The bail application also heard evidence from Detective Sergeant Matt Archer, from the Joint Counter Terrorism Team, who said he had been part of the investigation into the Ahmad family for 3½ years.
Archer said his team first learned of the allegations after a notification from ASIO and he was part of a team that travelled to Jordan and on to Iraq to interview the complainant.
The matter was adjourned until June 15 when further witnesses are expected to be called.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
