Source : the age
The last of the Islamic State-linked Australian women stranded in a detention camp in Syria has been granted a permit to return to Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has revealed.
The Sydney woman, Hodan Abby, was blocked from boarding a flight in Damascus in May under a temporary exclusion order issued by the federal government.
She was later believed to have disappeared with her young disabled daughter inside the Syrian prison system.
Burke said that Abby had formally requested to return to Australia, and the government could no longer prevent her from returning to the country.
“We received the final advice yesterday that we can no longer have an exclusion condition for her,” Burke told ABC radio on Thursday morning.
Burke said that Australian intelligence and security agencies were ready for her arrival and the permit for her to return will include a raft of monitoring measures.
“She will have to report where she lives, where she works, where she studies, if she books a ticket to anywhere, for telecommunications she cannot use any telecommunications device without giving 24 hours notice,” Burke said.
Government sources said Abby would be subjected to “significant and invasive surveillance”.
Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X, Facebook or email.
