Overview
- Chief Magistrate Lisa Hannan granted Kawsar Ahmad bail on Friday after finding prosecutors had not shown she posed an unacceptable terrorism risk.
- Ahmad faces four crimes‑against‑humanity charges that accuse her of enslavement, possessing a slave, using a slave and slave trading for actions in Syria in 2017–18.
- Prosecutors allege Ahmad agreed to the purchase of a Yazidi teenager for about US$10,000 and controlled the woman in the family home while her husband repeatedly assaulted her.
- The court flagged stringent bail conditions to limit any risk, including regular reporting, limits on communications and restrictions on religious teaching, and a $75,000 surety was offered by a family member.
- The case is part of Operation Kurrajong, a long running AFP and ASIO probe into Australians who joined IS in Syria and Iraq, and investigators warn building admissible evidence from conflict zones remains complex while Ahmad’s daughter Zeinab stays in custody.