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The 31-year-old ‘ISIS girlfriend’, who returned to Australia from Syria, is accused of flying into a terrorist stronghold two months after she and her children were rescued from the refugee camp.
- Mariam Raad, 31, arrested for allegedly leaving Australia to fight for Islamic State
- Ms. Raad traveled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband, Muhammed Zahab.
- Zahab was a prolific recruiter for the Islamic State who was killed in an airstrike in 2018.
A Sydney woman was charged just months after she was rescued from a Syrian refugee camp for reformed Islamic State fighters and eight years after she allegedly left Australia to fight with the militant group with her husband.
Mariam Raad, 31, was arrested after search warrants were issued in the rural New South Wales town of Young and the western Sydney suburb of Parklea on Thursday morning.
She was accused of entering and staying in parts of Syria that were under the control of the Islamic State terrorist organization.
Police will allege that Ms Raad traveled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband Muhammed Zahab, who left Australia in 2013 to join the fight for Islamic State.
Raad’s husband, a former mathematics teacher from Sydney, was a prolific recruiter for Islamic State who lured dozens of his family members to Syria before he was killed in a targeted airstrike in 2018.
Police allege that Ms. Raad knew of her husband’s activities with the Islamic State and, of her own free will, joined it.
Mariam Raad, 31, has been charged with allegedly leaving Australian shores to fight for Islamic State months after being rescued from a refugee camp.
Police will allege that Ms Raad traveled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband Muhammed, who left Australia in 2013 to join the fight for Islamic State.
The woman was in the Al Roj IDP camp in Syria before being repatriated to Australia in October 2022.
Ms Raad was arrested following a joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the New South Wales Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT).
In a statement, the JCTT said “newly obtained evidence” allegedly allowed them to charge the woman.
AFP’s acting deputy commissioner against terrorism and Special Investigations Command, Sandra Booth, said Australians returning from declared conflict areas will be investigated to ensure the safety of the public.
“People will be brought before the courts when evidence supports allegations that the returned people have committed crimes in conflict areas,” said acting AC Booth.
“The JCTT will continue to target criminal activity and does not target specific ideologies or beliefs.”
NSW Police Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Commander Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton said the NSW JCTT will continue to protect the community from those who pose a threat.
Ms Raad will face the local Wagga Wagga court on Friday. If she is found guilty, she could spend up to 10 years behind bars.
“We have zero tolerance for Australians, or anyone, seeking to commit acts of violence or extremism, and those considering doing the wrong thing will be on our notice,” Deputy Commissioner Walton said.
“Our investigators methodically collect information and evidence, conduct surveillance and work tirelessly to detect criminal activity that poses a threat to the Australian community.”
Ms Raad will face the local Wagga Wagga court on Friday.
If convicted, she could spend up to 10 years behind bars.
Ms. Raad spent more than three years in detention in the al-Hol and al-Roj camps before being repatriated to Sydney.
The mother-of-four previously told The Australian while in a refugee camp that she posed no threat to Australians (pictured: al roj camp in north-east Syria)
The mother of four previously recounted the aussie while in a refugee camp that posed no threat to Australians.
“I want to go back (to Australia),” Raad said.
‘I want my children to have the opportunity for a real future.
‘I’m stressed. It is not easy being a single mother with four children in a camp. The children are growing up and I go to bed every night imagining that they will be taken from me.’