A court has heard allegations that an Australian woman linked to Islamic State lived with a teenage slave who was repeatedly assaulted and raped by the woman's father. The details emerged during a bail hearing for Zeinab Ahmad, 31, at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, a month after she was charged with slavery offences.
Allegations of slavery and IS links
Australian Federal Police allege Ahmad left Melbourne for Turkey with her husband, Dawod, in November 2014. She told migration officers she planned to stay for seven months, but it is alleged the couple moved to Syria in January 2015. Dawod became an Islamic State member but died in a Syrian drone strike in May 2016, Detective Senior Constable Marc Clendenning told the court. After his death, Ahmad allegedly made social media posts saying Dawod had lived out his dream of becoming a martyr. She also allegedly posted a call for Allah to “destroy the United States and its allies”.
Police say Ahmad was living in the family home in Syria in 2017 when her father, Mohammad, bought a teenage girl as a slave for $US10,000. The girl was allegedly repeatedly raped and beaten by Mohammad, including an incident where she was hit and dragged down two flights of stairs by the hair. The girl told police she had screamed loudly during the incidents so Ahmad and other family members would have known what was happening. It is not alleged Ahmad assaulted the girl, but the teen claims she was “treated very badly” by the woman.
Teen sold multiple times
The girl allegedly lived with the Ahmad family for 16 months before she was sold in November 2018. She was sold a further seven times before being freed from slavery. Ahmad and her mother, Kawsar, 52, were among a group of IS-linked women and children who returned to Australia in May. Ahmad was arrested at Melbourne airport and charged with enslavement and using a slave.
Bail opposed
Human rights activist Robert Van Aalst, who helped the women and children return from Syria, attended court on Thursday along with Ahmad's supporters. Detective Clendenning opposed bail, arguing Ahmad was an unacceptable risk of endangering the community. He told the court she had married another two IS members and was still married to an Egyptian-born fighter whose location was unknown. Ahmad had never explicitly renounced IS and had pursued living under the terror group in Syria, Clendenning said. She had been employed by IS and encouraged violence against individuals and governments. The bail application before Chief Magistrate Lisa Hannan will continue on Friday.
