Overview
- Her bail hearing continued Monday in Melbourne Magistrates' Court after she returned to Australia earlier this year and was arrested on arrival.
- Prosecutors allege the Ahmad family bought a teenage Yazidi girl in 2017 for US$10,000 who was then repeatedly raped, beaten and traded and they oppose bail as an unacceptable risk to the community.
- Defence counsel says the accused renounced Islamic State, was forced into multiple marriages and suffered violence and control in Syrian camps.
- Her young daughter, who was born in the camp, is now attending a public school in Victoria and has been diagnosed with post‑traumatic stress disorder, which the defence says makes separation from her mother harmful.
- Courts and lawyers warn the case will raise novel legal and evidentiary problems such as public interest immunity and handling classified material and could take several years to reach trial.