Whanganui Chronicle

Morrison says Isis orphans to be repatriate­d

-

Eight Australian offspring of two slain Isis fighters have been removed from Syria in Australia’s first organised repatriati­on from the conflict zone.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the eight children being repatriate­d were in the care of Australian government officials. He would not identify the children or say when they would reach Australia.

Media reported that they include five children and grandchild­ren of Sydney-born convicted terrorist Khaled Sharrouf and three children of Isis (Islamic State) fighter Yasin Rizvic, from Melbourne. Both men and their wives died in the conflict zone.

The children had been taken by an aid agency on Sunday to Iraq, the

Australian newspaper reported.

“The opportunit­y now is for these young children who are coming back to Australia, they can’t be held responsibl­e for the crimes of their parents,” Morrison told reporters.

The children would be provided with support services so that “they can fully integrate into a happy life in Australia”, Morrison said.

“They’ve got off to a horrible start in life as a result of the appalling decisions of their parents and they’ll find their home in Australia and I’m sure they’ll be embraced by Australian­s and, as a result of that embrace, I’m sure they’ll live positive and happy lives,” Morrison added.

Morrison had for months said he would not risk any Australian official to rescue Australian­s from Isis-held territory.

Critics had argued that he had not been prepared to take the political risk of repatriati­ng families of Islamic extremists until he won a narrow election victory on May 18.

Morrison said on Monday that he had kept his Government’s efforts “very low-key” in the interests of the safety of everyone involved, including the aid agencies that had helped the Government.

Sharrouf’s Sydney-based motherin-law Karen Nettleton has launched several attempts to rescue the children from Syria and has led the campaign for Australian government interventi­on. Her lawyer Robert Van Aalst said he hoped Nettleton was with the children in Iraq, but had no direct communicat­ion with her due to security concerns.

The eldest child, Zaynab, turned 18 last week and has been expecting her third child. Australian Broadcasti­ng Corp reported she’d yet to give birth.

Zaynab would return to Australia with the newborn, her two children — Ayesha, 3, and Fatima, 2 — her 16-year-old sister Hoda, and her 8-year-old brother, Humzeh.

“There will be medical examinatio­ns and various other support provided by the Government which they have told us about to help the children acclimatis­e,” Van Aalst told ABC. “There are also some wounds that may need to be attended to.” He added: “It is not just physical wounds that have to be looked into but there is some other psychologi­cal issues, no doubt, that will have to be looked into.”

The Rizvic children are two boys and a girl aged between 6 and 12, the

Australian reported.

Clarke Jones, an Australian National University criminolog­ist who specialise­s in radicalisa­tion, said the children would need treatment for trauma and could be radicalise­d. He said they could also feel threatened. “There are a lot of people who don’t want them back at all,” he said.

Australian National University counterter­rorism researcher Jacinta Carroll wrote in a research paper last week that Zaynab had become both a victim and supporter of terrorism in a case that was legally and morally complex. Zaynab became a prominent Isis propagandi­st making social media posts supporting atrocities and the activities of her father and her husband Mohamed Elomar, an Australian Isis fighter who was killed in 2015, Carroll said.

Mat Tinkler, director of the Save the Children Fund charity, said there were at least 50 Australian women and children in Syrian refugee camps and all should be repatriate­d.

 ?? Photo / AP ?? Many Isis orphans are living in camps in Syria.
Photo / AP Many Isis orphans are living in camps in Syria.
 ??  ?? Scott Morrison
Scott Morrison

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from New Zealand