3 Australian women back from Syria face slavery and terrorism charges over alleged IS links

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Three Australian women were refused bail when they appeared in courts on Friday charged with slavery and terrorism offenses after they arrived home from Syria with another 10 others whom police allege are linked to the Islamic State group.

The four women and nine children, who have spent years in Roj camp in the Syrian desert, landed on two Qatar Airways flights from Doha on Thursday despite the Australian government warning they would face charges if they returned.

Kawsar Abbas, 53, and her daughter Zeinab Ahmed, 31, were charged in a Melbourne court in relation to allegations that their family bought a female Yazidi slave for $10,000, police said in a statement.

Their lawyers said they would apply for both women to be released on bail on Monday. Neither woman spoke during their brief court appearance. Bail was formally denied.

Abbas, her husband and children traveled in 2014 to Syria, which was then the center of IS’s co-called caliphate, police allege.

Abbas was complicit in buying the slave, who was kept in the family home, police allege.

The mother was charged with four crimes against humanity under Australian law, and the daughter was charged with two slavery crimes. Each charge carries a potential penalty of 25 years in prison.

Both women were detained by Kurdish forces in March 2019 and have been held with other family members at Roj camp since.

The camp in northeast Syria near the Iraq border houses mostly women and children who were displaced from areas that were once controlled by the Islamic State group.

Janai Safar, 32, was arrested at Sydney Airport and charged with being a member of a terrorist organization and with entering or remaining in a region controlled by a terrorist organization. Each charge carries a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

A judge refused to release her on Friday when she applied for bail in a Sydney court where she appeared via video link from a prison.

Her lawyer unsuccessfully argued that exceptional circumstances in her case warranted her release from custody. The lawyer submitted that both Safar and her 9-year-old son were likely both suffering from PTSD and the boy knew no one else in Australia.

Police allege she followed her IS-fighter partner to Syria in 2015 and had a child there. The partner reportedly died in 2017. Australia made it illegal to travel to the former Syrian Islamic State group stronghold of Raqqa without a legitimate reason from 2014 to 2017.

The Australian government has condemned the women for supporting Islamic State militants by traveling to Syria and refused to help repatriate them.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday he had sympathy for the returned children, but none for the parents who could expect no government support.

“I have absolutely zero sympathy for these people,” Albanese told reporters. “I do have sympathy for the children, who are victims of decisions that their parents have made.”

“It is appropriate that they undergo support: children who've been subject and exposed to all sorts of horrors in those camps,” Albanese added.

Police have been investigating Australians’ potential involvement in atrocities in Syria for more than a decade.

Another 21 Australian women and children remain in Roj camp. Their supporters have told reporters they intend to repatriate them within weeks.

One of those women is banned from returning to Australia by a temporary exclusion order.

Australia can use such orders to prevent high-risk citizens from returning for up to two years.

The orders were created by laws introduced to in 2019 to prevent defeated IS fighters from returning to Australia. There are no public reports of an order being issued before.

Such orders can’t be made against children younger than 14. But Australia has ruled out separating children from their mothers.

Australian governments have repatriated Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps on two occasions. Other Australians have returned without government assistance.

Lawyers Bill Doogue, left, representing Kawsar Abbas, and Maya George, representing Zeinab Ahmed, leave the Melbourne Magistrates' Court in Melbourne, Australia Friday, May 8, 2026, after Abbas and Ahmed were charged with slavery and terrorism offenses after they arrived home from Syria. (Joel Carrett/AAP Image via AP)

A court sketch depicts Janai Safar during her bail application in Sydney, Friday, May 8, 2026, after Safar was charged with being a member of a terrorist organization and with entering or remaining in a region controlled by a terrorist organization, after arriving home from Syria. (Rocco Fazzari/AAP Image via AP)

A court sketch depicts Kawsar Abbas during her bail application in Melbourne, Austrlaia, Friday, May 8, 2026, after Abbas was charged with slavery and terrorism offenses after arriving home from Syria. (Anita Lester/AAP Image via AP)

A court sketch depicts Zeinab Ahmed during her bail application in Melbourne, Austrlaia, Friday, May 8, 2026, after Ahmed was charged with slavery and terrorism offenses after arriving home from Syria. (Anita Lester/AAP Image via AP)

A group of supporters surround a woman with alleged ties to the Islamic State as she arrives with a child at Melbourne international Airport, in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (Joel Carrett/AAP Image via AP)

A group of supporters surround a woman with alleged ties to the Islamic State as she arrives with a child at Melbourne international Airport, in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (Joel Carrett/AAP Image via AP)

A group of supporters surround a woman with alleged ties to the Islamic State as she arrives with a child at Melbourne international Airport, in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (Joel Carrett/AAP Image via AP)

A series of high-profile criminal cases are in court this week for hearings that could prove pivotal. Four of the six have celebrity defendants or victims.

On Monday, there was a preliminary hearing for singer D4vd in Los Angeles; Andrew and Tristan Tate were fighting extradition in Miami; and a woman who killed her three kids was on trial in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

On Tuesday, attorneys for the man accused of murder in the 1996 death of Tupac Shakur are scheduled to appear in court in Las Vegas and a convicted school shooter could be sentenced in Winder, Georgia.

Also this week, a trial over the man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie continues in Buffalo, New York.

Here's a look at the cases, what's happening this week and what's at stake:

Prosecutors say the singer, whose legal name is David Burke, killed a 14-year-old girl after she threatened to reveal their sexual relationship. Burke has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have said they will vigorously defend him.

The indie-pop musician's online presence has brought him a huge following. His breakthrough single in 2022 was called “Romantic Homicide,” one of several of his songs with more than a billion plays on Spotify.

Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo decided Monday the evidence prosecutors presented at a preliminary hearing that spanned five days provided probable cause for a trial on charges of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains.

The social media influencers are accused of rape and sex trafficking in the United Kingdom, but are currently in the United States.

On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis set a detention hearing for Aug. 13 to determine whether the Tates should stay in jail or be released during what could be a monthslong extradition process.

The Tates promote their wealth, male dominance and misogyny through a social media empire that's made them some of the world’s most polarizing internet personalities. The former professional kickboxers, who have dual U.S. and U.K. citizenship, have millions of social media followers and are vocal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors have charged Hadi Matar with terrorism. Matar was previously convicted of a state-level attempted murder charge in the 2022 attack at a cultural institution where Rushdie was poised to speak about threats to writers and artists.

Rushdie testified against him last week in federal court in Buffalo, New York. Matar's attorneys have said their client may testify.

Lindsay Clancy strangled her 8-month-old, 3-year-old and 5-year-old children on Jan. 24, 2023 at her Massachusetts home. Prosecutors have charged her with murder.

The case casts a spotlight on postpartum mental health. Clancy’s attorneys say she sought help for postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Prosecutors say she carefully planned the killings.

If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.

Jurors on Monday heard opening statements and testimony from Clancy's former husband, Patrick Clancy. The trial is expected to last several weeks.

Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty Friday to 55 counts, including murder, in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at a high school north of Atlanta that left two students and two teachers dead. A judge must now decide whether he will have the possibility of parole.

A forensic psychologist who evaluated Gray after the shooting at the request of the teen’s attorney said Monday that Gray had a chaotic, lonely upbringing.

A jury in March convicted his father, Colin Gray, on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said he gave his son the assault-style rifle used to open fire at the school.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis is set to go on trial in August over the killing of the rap icon. He's accused of orchestrating the killing.

His attorneys are scheduled to ask a judge on Tuesday to exclude an interview he conducted with police in 2008.

Shakur’s death is considered one of the most notorious unsolved murders in the United States. The case had gone cold until Davis began making public statements about it, including in a book he co-wrote in which he said he provided the weapon used to shoot Shakur.

FILE - Hadi Matar walks in to the Chautauqua County court in Mayville, N.Y., May, 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus, File)

Lindsay Clancy waits for the judge to call a prospective jury member into court in her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Colt Gray, the 16-year-old Apalachee High School shooting suspect, is led in by deputies for his sentencing at Barrow County Superior Court, Monday, July 27, 2026, in Winder, Ga. (Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)

FILE - David Anthony Burke, whose stage name is D4vd, is arraigned in Los Angeles, April 20, 2026, on charges of killing a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in his car. (Ted Soqui/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Andrew Tate, right, and his brother Tristan arrive at an event, April 11, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool, File)