Zeinab Ahmad: ISIS-linked woman seeks bail on slavery charges after returning from Syrian camp

An ISIS-linked woman accused of slavery offences has had her bid for bail delayed after a “difficulty” with her prison transport, a court has been told.

A bail application by Zeinab Ahmad, 31, was called in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning as chief magistrate Lisa Hannan said Ms Ahmad was not yet at court.

“I understand there was difficulty with your client and her transport,” Justice Hannan said.

“She has left the prison on a transport, I don’t anticipate it to be very long.”

The case has been stood down to resume after 11am.

Ms Ahmad is facing two charges of enslavement and using a slave, relating to a Yazidi woman, a minority group from northern Iraq, allegedly used as a slave in the family’s home in the Deir ez-Zur province of Syria.

Ms Ahmad was arrested alongside her mother Kawsar Ahmad, 54, also known as Kawsar Abbas, on May 7 after touching down at Melbourne Airport as part of a cohort of women and children returning from a refugee camp for ISIS-linked families in northern Syria.

Kawsar Ahmad has been charged with four crimes against humanity offences of enslavement, possessing a slave, using a slave and engaging in slave trading.

She is expected to apply for bail during a two-day hearing on June 16.

The Australian Federal Police allege the two women travelled to Syria in 2014 and were detained by Kurdish forces at the Al Roj camp between 2019 and this year.

It’s alleged Kawsar Ahmad was “complicit” in the purchase of a female slave for $US10,0000 in about June 2017, with the mother and daughter exercising control over the woman until about November 2018.