Volkswacht Bodensee - Women linked to IS fighters charged with slavery after landing in Australia

The women and their children -- all Australian citizens -- landed on Thursday evening after years spent in a Syrian detention camp where they have languished since the group's demise.

Police arrested the women immediately after they landed at Melbourne international airport.

They were among four women and nine children returning to Australia for the first time after allegedly sneaking into Syria to join the Islamic State group's self-declared caliphate in the early 2010s.

Australian Federal Police counter-terrorism boss Stephen Nutt said a 53-year-old woman was accused of a raft of "crimes against humanity", including possessing a slave, using a slave, and slave trading.

A 31-year-old woman faced two slavery charges, Nutt said.

"The women will appear before a court once they have been charged," he said.

Nutt said there was little else he could say given the looming legal process, but confirmed the slavery charges allegedly took place in Syria.

"All I can say is the safety of the community is the number one priority for all agencies involved," he told reporters.

A third woman, 32, was arrested after landing in Sydney and would be charged with travelling to a banned area and joining a terrorist organisation, he said.

A fourth woman travelling with the group had not been arrested.

Hundreds of women from Western nations were lured to the Middle East as the Islamic State group gained prominence, in many cases following husbands who had signed up as jihadist fighters.

Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and others are still grappling with how to treat citizens stranded after the group collapsed.

- 'Horrific choice' -

There was a heavy police presence at both airports ahead of the arrivals, according to AFP journalists in Sydney and Melbourne.

Australia made it an offence to travel to the Islamic State's stronghold of Raqqa province in Syria between 2014 and 2017, an attempt to stop its citizens joining the militant group.

Widely known as the "ISIS brides", the case has stirred strong feelings in Australia.

Australia's Human Rights Commission urged the government in March to help repatriate 34 women and children stuck in Syria's notorious Roj detention camp.

But others have accused the women of turning their back on Australia and believe they should be left to face the consequences.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has accused the four returning Australian women of making "a horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation".

They are not the first Australian citizens to return from Syria's refugee camps.

Small groups of women and children flew back to Australia in 2019, 2022 and 2025.

C.Bruderer--VB