Uncle of ISIS bride Zeinab Ahmad denounces terror group as ‘evil’ in bail bid

The uncle of an ISIS-linked woman accused of slavery offences has denounced the terror group as evil, as he fights for her to be released to live with him.

Self-employed mechanic Abraham Abbas took the stand at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday afternoon during the second day of his niece’s application for bail.

Mr Abbas told the court he was prepared to offer a $75,000 bail guarantee and a place in his home if Zeinab Ahmad, 31, is released.

Asked of his views on ISIS, Mr Abbas did not hold back.

“I hate those bastards. Sorry Your Honour, I do,” he said.

“Sorry for the language — they’re evil and they don’t represent anything we believe in Islam at all.”

Both Zeinab Ahmad and her mother Kawsar Ahmad, 54, were charged with slavery offences including crimes against humanity — a first for the country — after arriving at Melbourne Airport on May 7 following more than a decade overseas.

Police allege she had been detained at the Al Roj camp in northern Syria alongside family members, including children, after surrendering to Kurdish forces following the capture of Baghouz, Islamic State’s final stronghold, in March 2019.

In a bail hearing that began on Thursday, prosecutors have alleged her father Mohammed Ahmad, who remains in detention in Iraq and has not been charged, purchased a Yazidi teenager as a slave for $US10,000 in about June 2017.

“I bought you for the purpose of raping and at the same time serving the home,” it’s alleged he told her.

The girl, the court was told, was captured by ISIS in northern Iraq, aged 15, as part of a “systemic” targeting of the Yazidi ethno-religious minority and traded among about 17 ISIS fighters before she was freed in 2019.

Australian Federal Police detective senior constable Marc Clendenning told the court the woman told police she had been beaten, sexually assaulted “many times” and forced to do housework by Mohammed Ahmad before she was sold to a different ISIS fighter in about November 2018.

The court was told it is not alleged Zeinab Ahmad assaulted the woman, but that she treated her badly, ordered her to do things around the house and did not intervene when she was being raped.

Constable Clendenning said it was alleged Zeinab Ahmad’s social media posts and communications with family members in Australia demonstrated “open support for Islamic State activities, objectives, and ideological principles”.

Police have opposed bail, arguing Zeinab Ahmed posed an unacceptable risk to the community and had not publicly renounced ISIS.

“The accused has never explicitly renounced or stated that she no longer supports the Islamic State since her surrender to Kurdish forces,” the officer said.

Police have alleged Zeinab Ahmad relocated to Syria to join Islamic State alongside her parents, husband Dawod Elmir, and other family members in around January 2015 after first separately travelling to Turkiye.

Multiple family members including Dawod and two of Zeinab Ahmad’s brothers; Ahmad and Omar Ahmad, are believed to have been killed by Coalition forces in 2016 and 2017, the court was told.

Cross-examination of constable Clendenning by defence lawyer Grace Morgan largely focused on the restrictions women, such as Zeinab Ahmad, faced living under Islamic State.

She suggested women had few rights and Zeinab Ahmad had been married three times in three years to different ISIS fighters, which the officer accepted.

Ms Morgan quizzed constable Clendenning about the availability of reintegration programs and electronic monitoring if she is released on bail.

The bail application was adjourned until June 15 after the defence sought to question AFP Detective Sergeant Greg Adams, who took a statement about the alleged offending from the woman in Iraq in September 2019.

The court was told the AFP had been notified by ASIO that the woman may have information about an Australian family.

Kawsar Ahmad is expected to apply for bail later this month.