Sydney, Melbourne and ISIS linked women and children return as second Syria cohort heads to Australia
A second group of ISIS-linked women and children are expected to arrive in two major Australian cities in just a matter of hours.
A second cohort of Australian women and children linked to ISIS are expected to return to Sydney and Melbourne in a matter of hours.
The group comprises of six women and 14 children, with the majority understood to be on a connecting flight from Doha Airport due to land in Sydney about 5.30pm on Tuesday, The Daily Telegraph reports.
They departed al-Roj internment camp on Friday by bus and later reached Damascus, before acquiring plane tickets to begin their journey home.
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Save the Children, a prominent advocate for the repatriation of the group, welcomed news of their arrival.
“These innocent children have endured years in dangerous and unstable conditions, and we have held serious concerns for their safety and wellbeing,” Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler said.
“The political debate surrounding their future in Australia has been deeply disappointing.
“As Australian citizens, it was always a matter of ‘when’ these women and children came home, not ‘if’.
“While much attention has focused on the circumstances of the mothers, two-thirds of the returning group are children.”
He said Australia must prioritise the children’s “safety, wellbeing and right to live in this country as Australian citizens”.
One Australian woman who was part of the cohort living in al-Roj has been issued with a temporary exclusion order (TEO) by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on the advice of ASIO.
It bans her from returning to the country for up to two years on the grounds of national security.
The federal government has been contacted for comment.
Earlier this month, four women and nine children previously living in al-Roj returned to Australia.
Three of those women were arrested and charged by the Australian Federal Police upon arrival at Melbourne and Sydney airports.
Two of the women were charged with crimes against humanity offences, while another was charged with terrorism offences.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said ahead of the first group’s arrival that children in the cohort would be asked to participate in “community integration programs, therapeutic support, and countering violent extremism” programs.
The Albanese government has insisted it has no sympathy for the group and has repeatedly refused to repatriate them from Syria.
But it could not stop the group of Australian citizens from being provided passports, which they received earlier this year through intermediary Jamal Rifi, a prominent Sydney doctor.
Originally published as Second group of ISIS-linked Australian women and children to land in Sydney
