A 31-year-old Australian woman, Zeinab Ahmad, allegedly lived with a teenage slave who was repeatedly raped and assaulted by her father while the family was in Syria, a Melbourne court heard on Thursday. Ahmad is facing slavery charges after returning to Australia in May.
Australian Federal Police allege Ahmad left Melbourne with her husband, Dawod, in November 2014, claiming they would stay in Turkey for seven months. Instead, the couple moved to Syria in January 2015, where Dawod became an Islamic State member before dying in a drone strike in May 2016. After his death, Ahmad allegedly made social media posts celebrating his martyrdom and calling on Allah to destroy the United States and its allies.
In 2017, Ahmad's father, Mohammad, allegedly bought a teenage girl as a slave for US$10,000. The girl was repeatedly raped and beaten by Mohammad, including an incident where she was dragged down two flights of stairs by her hair. The teen told police she screamed loudly, and Ahmad and other family members would have known what was happening. While Ahmad is not accused of assaulting the girl, the teen claims she was treated very badly by her.
The girl lived with the Ahmad family for 16 months before being sold in November 2018. She was sold a further seven times before being freed. 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.
Detective Senior Constable Marc Clendenning opposed bail, arguing Ahmad was an unacceptable risk to the community. He noted she had married two other IS members and was still married to an Egyptian-born fighter whose location is unknown. Ahmad had never renounced IS, was employed by the group, and encouraged violence. The bail application will continue on Friday.
