Overview
- The Melbourne Magistrates' Court granted special-witness status to a second woman, blocking her identification as she is expected to give evidence about her interactions with the accused.
- Kawsar Ahmad, 54, and Zeinab Ahmad, 31, remain in custody at Melbourne's Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, with bail hearings set for June 5 and June 16 after they abandoned an initial bid.
- Prosecutors have charged the pair with six crimes-against-humanity slavery offences, alleging a Yazidi woman was bought for about US$10,000 in mid-2017 and kept under control until November 2018 across Syria's Deir ez-Zor province, with each count carrying up to 25 years in prison.
- The women returned to Australia on Thursday after years held by Kurdish forces at the Al Roj camp in northern Syria, following travel to the region in 2014 with partners who investigators say intended to join Islamic State.
- A third returnee, Janai Safar, faces charges of entering a prohibited area and Islamic State membership in Sydney and was refused bail, with her case due back in court in July.