MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A Yazidi woman has detailed her harrowing experience of being enslaved, alleging that she shared a bedroom with another woman accused of her enslavement in Syria, where she endured repeated sexual assault and beatings by the woman's father. This testimony came to light during a court hearing in Melbourne on Thursday, where Zeinab Ahmad, 31, faces two charges of slavery.
Zeinab and her mother, Kawsar Ahmad, 53, have been in custody since returning to Australia from a Syrian refugee camp last month with a group of Australian women and children connected to the Islamic State group. The allegations against them are severe, with police asserting that the Yazidi witness, who cannot be named, disclosed details about her traumatic experiences in a police statement.
According to Detective Senior Constable Mark Clendenning, the witness, who was only 15 when she was subjected to slavery, testified that Mohammed Ahmad, Zeinab's father, purchased her for $10,000 in 2017 while they were in Raqqa, Syria, an area controlled by IS at the time. The detective further alleged that Kawsar was also involved in the transaction, which was reportedly an unusual role for a woman within the IS caliphate.
In his statement, Clendenning asserted that Mohammed Ahmad had significant influence and privileges within the Islamic State, which allowed him and Kawsar to operate outside the usual confines of IS practices. The witness said she was brought into a home shared with the Ahmad family, where she was forced to share a room with Zeinab.
During her captivity, the witness claimed that Mohammed expressed the purpose of buying her — stating, "I bought you for the purpose of raping and at the same time serving the home." He allegedly introduced her to the family by declaring, "I bought her for sex and to do housework."
Zeinab's personal history is also troubling; following the death of her first husband in a drone strike in 2016, she married an Egyptian IS fighter who was injured in combat. The police report indicates that she was present during incidents where her father physically assaulted the witness and that this was a regular occurrence, with the father allegedly committing such acts two to three times a month.
The witness further detailed that despite resisting, she had been sexually assaulted multiple times by Mohammed. While Zeinab did not inflict physical harm, she purportedly threatened the witness and coerced her into fulfilling various household duties.
In a further twist, it is reported that in 2018, Mohammed sold the Yazidi witness for another $10,000, claiming she was "bad" and not obedient. Over a span of five years, the witness was traded among IS members a staggering 17 times before being liberated by Kurdish forces in 2019. Her ordeal is part of the wider persecution suffered by the Yazidi community, which has faced systemic violence from the Islamic State.
The Ahmad family had moved from Melbourne to Syria at various times between 2013 and 2014, with Zeinab reportedly flying out with her husband in 2014. Detective Clendenning argued that allowing Zeinab to be released from custody posed an unacceptable risk to public safety. Furthermore, he cited her connections, having married multiple IS-affiliated individuals and currently being wed to an unidentified Egyptian member of IS.
As Zeinab faces serious charges including enslavement and the use of a slave, each carrying a maximum prison sentence of 25 years, the court continues to deliberate her bail application. The hearing is set to resume on Friday, as the case against her and her mother unfolds amidst the backdrop of their controversial return to Australia.
