A group of ISIS brides and their children have left a notorious Syrian refugee camp in a second attempt to travel to Australia after being given passports.
In February 34 ISIS-linked women and children from 11 families left the Al Roj camp in northeastern Syria but were turned back, sparking anger in Australia where most Aussies want them refused entry.
On Friday four women and nine of the children and grandchildren departed for Damascus with a Syrian military escort, camp director Hakmiyah Ibrahim confirmed to ABC News.
“It was done between us and the Syrian government, to be able to fly back these families to their country,” she said, but added there were no current plans for the remaining Australian passport holders to leave the camp.
A federal government spokesperson said Labor “is not and will not repatriate people from Syria”, and warned some may face prosecution on arrival.
“People in this cohort need to know that if they have committed a crime and if they return to Australia they will be met with the full force of the law,” the spokesperson said.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles on Saturday morning also denied the government was facilitating the return of the ISIS brides, saying: “The government is not participating in the repatriation of people in this circumstance.”
But Opposition immigration spokesman Jonno Duniam said Labor should be doing more to prevent the group from re-entering Australia.
“If they are to ever return, it should be the Commonwealth that decides the nature of their return – as was the case under the Morrison government,” he said.
“Under Labor this is not the case, with the ISIS brides and their supporters entering Australia when they choose with passports provided by this government.”
A poll conducted after the February departure attempt found that 64% of voters opposed allowing the wives and family members of ISIS brides to to return to Australian, with just 15% in support.
Of the February group, one third were bound for NSW and Premier Chris Minns confirmed the children would be supported by the state government, while the remaining two thirds were expected to settle in Victoria.
Some of the ISIS brides and children in that cohort had spent time in a different refugee camp, Al Hol, which is a radicalisation hub where jihadist women hid teenage boys in tunnels and sexually abused them to get pregnant.
It is unclear whether those families are included in the group that departed Al Roj on Friday.
Header image: Left, right, ISIS brides on their first departure attempt (supplied).
