Overview
- Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Monday that security agencies know Hodan Abby’s location and will give her return ‘‘full attention’’ if she comes back to Australia.
- Authorities revoked a temporary exclusion order on Abby last month and issued a permit to return, removing the rare legal barrier that had kept her overseas.
- Media reporting from sources in the Kurdish-run al-Roj camp alleges Abby acted as an ISIS enforcer and committed violent acts, but those claims remain reported and have not been legally tested in Australia.
- Burke said investigators are continuing to build evidence and that past returnees have been arrested either on arrival at airports or later, so operational responses could include arrest at entry or prosecution after further investigation.
- Dozens of Australian women and children have passed through northeast Syrian detention camps, creating a wider political and legal challenge for repatriation, surveillance and possible criminal cases here.