Remaining woman from IS-linked group returning to Australia within weeks

The last of the Islamic State-linked Australian women stranded in a detention camp in Syria is expected to return to Australia within weeks after the federal government granted her permission to travel.

Sydney woman Hodan Abby was blocked from boarding a flight in Damascus in May under a temporary exclusion order issued by the federal government.

She was later reported to have disappeared with her young daughter, who has serious injuries, inside the Syrian prison system.

Burke said Abby had formally applied to return to Australia, meaning the government could no longer prevent her from returning to the country.

“We received the final advice yesterday that we can no longer have an exclusion condition for her,” Burke told ABC radio on Thursday morning.

Burke said Australian intelligence and security agencies were ready for Abby’s arrival and the permit for her to return would include a raft of monitoring measures.

“She will have to report where she lives, where she works, where she studies, if she books a ticket to anywhere, for telecommunications she cannot use any telecommunications device without giving 24 hours’ notice,” Burke said.

People involved in the efforts to repatriate the women from Syria, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said they believed Abby was being held by Syrian authorities near Damascus while waiting for the green light to return to Australia.

She received an Australian passport early this year.

The sources said she was expected to book a ticket to Australia and leave Syria in coming weeks.

A key motivation to return home is securing medical treatment for Abby’s nine-year-old daughter, who suffers from debilitating shrapnel injuries.

Government sources said legal advice from the Australian Government Solicitor’s office made clear, following Abby’s request for a return permit, that the temporary exclusion order would need to be lifted.

Abby would be subjected to “significant and invasive surveillance” if she returns to the country, the sources said.

The main practical use of temporary exclusion orders is to buy time for authorities to prepare and put conditions in place before the individual of concern returns to Australia.

The conditions attached to the return permit include notifying the Department of Home Affairs of all interstate or international travel, and the use of any telecommunications devices, the internet, or a computer for any purpose.

Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson accused Burke of a “tortured” explanation of why Abby was now allowed to return to Australia despite the previous exclusion order.

“This is a government which, frankly, just hasn’t had its heart in protecting Australia from this dangerous cohort of people,” he said. “The government should have used every single lever at its power to keep these people offshore, and they have failed to do so.”

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said his agency was prepared for the woman’s return.

“ASIO is not all-seeing and all-knowing, and we don’t want to be, but I can assure your listeners that actually the full use of my organisation’s capability and powers will be used when this individual returns to this country,” Burgess told ABC radio.

“When there are Australians who have been overseas in places like Syria and Iraq who represent security concerns, we assess them.

“We know the level of the risk, and anyone who’s considered a high or medium risk gets my agency’s full attention.”

Advocacy group Save the Children welcomed the move, saying Abby’s daughter was “among the most vulnerable in the group, making her safe and immediate return to Australia a matter of urgency”.

This masthead reported earlier this year that Abby’s nine-year-old daughter has a series of debilitating medical conditions caused by shrapnel that has been lodged in her body for most of her life.

Medical records show the child suffers from chronic headaches, reduced mobility, developmental challenges and potentially permanent paralysis if the shrapnel is not removed soon.

Save the Children’s chief executive Mat Tinkler said the return would allow the child to “access healthcare and wraparound supports to recover and reintegrate into the Australian community”.

“We call on the wider community, including politicians and commentators to consider the child’s wellbeing and allow her the best chance of recovery away from public scrutiny,” he said.

Abby left her western Sydney home with a friend in 2015 and travelled to the Middle East when she was 18. The pair told their families they were going on holiday.

Two groups of so-called ISIS brides returned to Australia in May, and some were charged with crimes-against-humanity offences.

Burke also confirmed, following a major speech by Burgess on Wednesday night, that the terror alert warning system was under review to see if it needs to be updated to reflect the true nature of modern national security risks.

“There’s a review that’s happening on that,” Burke said.

“The thing that matters is making sure that the Australian people, but also all the law enforcement agencies, get the best possible information.”

The terror threat level has been set at probable – meaning a greater than 50 per cent chance of an onshore terror attack occurring or being planned within the next 12 months – since October 2024.

Burgess said in his annual threat assessment that, “I do not believe the system was designed for a situation like the one we now face”.

“Probable does not tell the full story,” he said.

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