Australia has allowed the return of the last Australian woman stranded in the Middle East suspected of being linked to ISIS. Interior Minister Tony Burke said on Thursday that the temporary exclusion order preventing her return had expired, and Australia could not legally turn away its citizen.
Burke said the woman will face strict security measures upon her return to Australia. These include intense surveillance, and restrictions on computer and phone access. "There will be a very high degree of scrutiny and surveillance, and we have pushed to the very edge of the lawful limits," Burke said, stressing that security measures will be applied at the maximum level.
The unnamed woman is the last of more than 30 women and children who have returned to Australia. Earlier this year, three women who returned were immediately arrested on charges ranging from slavery to membership in a terrorist organization.
After the collapse of ISIS's so-called caliphate, dozens of women and children held for years in notorious detention camps in Syria are gradually returning to Australia. In most cases, the women left Australia to follow their husbands who joined jihadist fighters and were publicly referred to as "ISIS brides."
Hundreds of women from Western countries were drawn to the Middle East when ISIS was gaining strength. Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries are still grappling with how to deal with their stranded citizens after the group's collapse.
The Australian Human Rights Commission had called on the government to help bring home women and children stranded in detention camps in Syria. However, some argue that the women turned their backs on Australia and should face the consequences.
