An Australian woman accused of slavery offences linked to Islamic State has been refused bail for a second time, after a court found she remained an unacceptable risk to the community because of concerns over her extremist beliefs.
Zeinab Ahmad, 31, was arrested after returning to Melbourne in May from a Syrian detention camp with family members of former Islamic State fighters. She is charged with enslavement and using a slave in relation to a Yazidi teenager allegedly held by her family in Syria.
The Victorian Court of Appeal upheld an earlier decision to keep her in custody. Justice James Elliott said there was no compelling evidence that Ms Ahmad had renounced the ideology she had previously supported, despite claims by her barrister that she had rejected extremism after the birth of her daughter in 2019.
“Her extreme ideology in the past coupled with extreme brutality (of IS) means any related conduct, including indirectly influencing others, is potentially catastrophic,” the judge said. “I accept the risk is low, however it is real.”
Prosecutors allege Ms Ahmad travelled to Syria with her family in 2015 and later supported Islamic State through social media posts calling for violence against non-believers and the destruction of the United States and its allies.
Her father, Mohammad Ahmad, is accused of buying the teenage girl for US$10,000 in 2017. The girl has alleged that she was raped and beaten repeatedly, including being dragged down two flights of stairs by her hair.
Ms Ahmad is not accused of physically assaulting the girl. However, prosecutors allege she ordered her to carry out household chores and prevented her from leaving the family home voluntarily.
Defence barrister Julie Condon KC argued that Ms Ahmad had not publicly supported Islamic State or its ideology since February 2017. Her lawyers also said she had been subjected to coercive and controlling influences from husbands who supported the group.
The court heard that Ms Ahmad’s young daughter, who has post-traumatic stress disorder, had suffered from being separated from her mother. Justice Elliott said the situation was “extremely unfortunate”, but noted that the child was living with her grandmother, Kawsar Ahmad.
Kawsar Ahmad, who is also facing slavery charges over the alleged treatment of the teenager, was granted bail in June. Her daughter remains in custody as the case proceeds towards a trial in the Victorian Supreme Court under an expedited procedure.
Abraham Abbas, Ms Ahmad’s uncle, had offered $75,000 as a surety and described the latest decision as unfair as he left court.
