‘Safer’ to return ISIS brides, Albanese not helping, says Sydney doctor

A prominent Sydney doctor who is in Syria to help repatriate 34 women and children linked to ISIS fighters has refuted claims the Albanese government is assisting the cohort, and stated it would be “safer” in the long-run to return them to Australia. Lebanese-born GP Dr Jamal Rifi has been at the centre of an escalating spat over the future of the women and children who, until recently, had been interned at al-Hol prison in Syria’s northeast. The Albanese government, including Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, have steadfastly denied helping the cohort, but admitted they are entitled as Australian citizens to passports, which they reportedly received from Dr Rifi. The Opposition has instead sought to claim the Labor government is helping the group, and has proposed reforms that would criminalise helping the women, who travelled to Syria at the height of the ISIS’ control in the region, and their children. In a column for the Sydney Morning Herald, Dr Rifi said he was “particularly concerned” about Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s proposal, likening it to a sentence passed down by a Lebanese tribunal in absentia “at the behest of Hezbollah”, the Iranian-backed Shiite paramilitary group. “That, it seems, would include respected and world-leading charity organisations; it would include family and supporters of the trapped Australians; it would include me,” he told the masthead. Dr Rifi said his involvement with women and children linked to former or deceased fighters had played out over more than a decade, and that he had acted as an informal medical consultant, providing medical advice on everything from “panic and asthma attacks, sickness from the cold, tonsillitis, chilblains and other physical and psychological illnesses”. “I said publicly that these children were the first victims of the terrible actions of their fathers,” Dr Rifi said. “We know those men’s victims would be numerous, given their involvement with such a despicable terrorist group as Islamic State.” ‘Reports about my relationships with ministers... are irrelevant’ In his lengthy rebuttal, Dr Rifi said there had been “misinformation” and denied the Albanese government was offering an assistance to the cohort. “We have not, to our disappointment, received any help from the Albanese government to repatriate the families,” he said. “Reports about my personal relationships with ministers, including Tony Burke, and MPs are irrelevant, and the insinuations attached to those stories are wholly inaccurate. “Any efforts I undertake, including this repatriation attempt, are mine alone.” The passports received by the group were “a legal right” and did not “constitute ‘government help’”, Dr Rifi said. Dr Rifi said he told “no one in authority” of his plans, and felt that after a door in Canberra “had slammed shut”, they had to explore other options. Noting the Bondi Beach terror attack, Dr Rifi said: “In the long run, Australia will be safer if the families can return in an orderly fashion to our shores. “Where the children may receive proper support and the mothers – where relevant and in accordance with existing legislation – would face any consequences for their ill-fated decision to travel to the Middle East. “Imagine if we extended across our great nation the view that children should bear the brunt of their parents’ actions, as we are collectively allowing to happen to the kids in the al-Roj camp. “Ours would be a lesser nation. I don’t believe Australia, my home, is so mean-spirited.” Dr Rifi also noted his place of work in Sydney had “received bomb and death threats, and I am dismayed by the dog-whistling that I have seen from afar”.