'ISIS bride' Mariam Raad released on bail

Mariam Raad, the so-called “ISIS bride” charged with entering Islamic State territory, has been released on bail after appearing at Griffith Local Court today.

Police allege that Raad willingly travelled to an IS-controlled area of Syria in 2014, and that she knew about the activities of her husband, senior IS fighter Muhammad Zahab.

Raad, 31, was returned to Australia in October after spending almost three years in a displaced persons camp in north-east Syria. Her husband was reportedly killed by an airstrike in 2018.

She was granted conditional bail and is due to appear in court in March. Raad was required to surrender her passport and agree to 12 bail conditions including not contacting anyone from a terrorist group, viewing any terrorist material or propaganda and not acquiring a firearm.

Appearing in court via video link, she had requested bail saying her daughters suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after their time in Syria.

Raad has been charged with entering a “declared zone”, which can attract a 10-year prison sentence.

She was arrested on Thursday in Young, on the state’s South West Slopes, where she has been living, following what police described as a complex and long-term investigation that began while she was still in Syria.

Police said on Thursday that new evidence had come to light that Raad was aware of the activities of Zahab, a former Sydney maths teacher who had risen high in the ranks of IS and brought at least a dozen other Australians to Syria.

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