Three women with alleged links to ISIS set to be charged after arriving in Australia

Three women with alleged links to the Islamic State group's former so-called caliphate in Syria are set to face charges, including slavery and terror offences, Australian police have said.

The group, who arrived in Australia on Thursday, reportedly spent years in the al Roj refugee camp in the northeast of Syria.

Initial reports suggested a total of 13 women and children had made the trip to Australia via two flights, which landed in Sydney and Melbourne from Doha in Qatar.

Stephen Nutt, assistant commissioner counter terrorism for the Australian Federal Police (AFP), updated reporters in a news conference and began by describing charges expected against two women who arrived in Melbourne.

A 53-year-old is set to face four crimes against humanity charges involving enslavement, possessing a slave, using a slave, and engaging in slave trading.

Separately, a 31-year-old woman is set to face two charges of crimes against humanity involving enslavement and using a slave.

Both women will face a court in the state of Victoria once they have been charged. Each offence carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

Mr Nutt added that a third woman, 32, who arrived in Sydney, is also due to be charged with entering or remaining in a declared area, and being a member of a terrorist organisation.

Both offences carry a maximum prison term of 10 years, and the woman will appear before a court in New South Wales.

The group has been held in a refugee camp in Syria for years following the collapse of ISIS's so-called caliphate, which spanned Syria and Iraq.

In February, a group attempted to leave for Australia but was turned back by Syrian authorities.

Police said that since 2015, they had planned for the return of people who had travelled to Syria by launching Operation Kurrajong.

The Australian government had previously condemned the women for supporting IS militants and had refused to help repatriate them.

During an interview with ABC News earlier this year, Australian ‌Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hinted at potential consequences if people returned: "We want to make it clear... to the people involved that, if there are any breaches of the law, then they will face the full force of the Australian law."

Krissy Barrett, commissioner for the AFP, said in a statement that children who return "will be asked to undergo community integration programmes, therapeutic support and countering violent extremism programmes".

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Some Australian women travelled to Syria between 2012 and 2016 to join their ⁠husbands, who had allegedly become members of ​ISIS.

Following ISIS's territorial defeat in ​2019, many relatives of suspected fighters were detained in ​camps, including al Roj near the Iraqi border.

In January, the US began moving detained ISIS ⁠members out of Syria after the ​collapse of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

They had ​been guarding around a dozen facilities holding fighters and affiliated civilians.

(c) Sky News 2026: Three women with alleged links to ISIS set to be cha