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An ISIS-linked mother charged with terror offences months after returning to Australia will seek to be freed on Monday.
Rayann El Houli, 34, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon as her lawyer, Peter Morrissey SC, revealed plans to seek bail.
The mother-of-four returned to Australia on September 25 last year after being held in an displaced persons camp in Syria following the collapse of ISIS.
The court was told Ms El Houli had been interviewed by police in April this year.
She has been charged with entering a declared conflict zone and being a member of a terrorist organisation. Wearing a black burqa, Ms El Houli was not required to speak during the hearing.
Mr Morrissey said his client had been living in the community for the past eight months and was keen to progress the bail application as soon as possible.
The “haste” for the bail application, Mr Morrissey said, was because his client had been caring for her children who were “doing well” back in Australia.
Prosecutors said they would be relying on a 18-page summary of the allegations against Ms El Houli and five short videos, some of which contained songs, as evidence during next week’s bail application.
The videos do not contain “graphic violent material”, the court was told.
The case will return before chief magistrate Lisa Hannan on Monday.
The court hearing comes after the AFP announced on Thursday they’d executed search warrants at separate homes in Broadmeadows and Fitzroy North in Victoria.
A suspected stolen motor vehicle, electronic devices, documents and photographs were seized by police during the search.
“It will be alleged the woman travelled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 to join ISIS,” AFP Deputy Commissioner Hilda Sirec said.
“The woman was detained by Kurdish forces in March 2019, and held with her other family members in an internally displaced persons camp.”
A man with whom Ms El Houli allegedly travelled to Syria with is held in an unspecified prison in the Middle East, the AFP said in a press release.
She is said to have returned to Australia from Lebanon with another woman in September 2025.
Victoria Joint Counter Terrorism Team investigations into both women remain ongoing.
Separately, seven women and 12 children – all Australian citizens – touched down in Sydney and Melbourne airports from Syria on Tuesday.
The group fled the al-Roj internment camp in Syria’s northeast last week. They had been detained in the desert facility since the fall of the so-called ISIS caliphate in 2019.
No arrests were made upon this cohort’s arrival in Australia.
During question time on Thursday, Fowler MP Dai Le, whose electorate includes much of Sydney’s west, asked what engagement the government had undertaken with the community.
In response, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revealed “very powerful” consultations when it was first reported that the women and children were seeking to return home.
Talks included with Assyrian National Council, the Assyrian Australian Association, the Chaldean Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East.
“Although I’d also add to that probably no meeting more powerful (was) when then when a delegation came here from Wagga from the Yazidi community, which involved one woman, who from memory would have been 19, had herself effectively been a slave (and) hadn’t seen her mum since she was eight,” he said.
“There are reasons why the government had the view that we have of what these individuals (allegedly) do.”
Planning for the return of ISIS-linked Australians who had travelled to Syria started in 2015, Krissy Barrett said earlier this month.
From the group who touched down on May 7, three women were arrested and charged by the AFP upon arrival in Australia.
This included Kawsar Abbas, 53, and her daughter Zeinab Ahmad, 31, who were charged at Melbourne Airport.
Ms Abbas was charged with four counts of crimes against humanity, including enslavement.
Each offence carries a maximum penalty of up to 25 years’ imprisonment if convicted.
Authorities will allege Ms Abbas travelled to Syria in 2014 with her husband and children, was complicit in buying a female slave for $US10,000 and knowingly kept the woman in the home.
Ms Ahmad was charged with two counts of crimes against humanity, including enslavement.
It will be alleged she travelled to Syria in 2014 with her family and knowingly kept a female slave in the home.
The third woman, Janai Safar, 32, was arrested at Sydney Airport and charged with entering and remaining in a declared area and being a member of a terrorist organisation.
Both offences carry a maximum penalty of up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
It will be alleged Ms Safar travelled to Syria in 2015 to join her husband, who had previously left Australia and joined ISIS.
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