An Australian woman who fled Australia to join ISIS has detailed the atrocities she witnessed inside a Syrian detention camp as she pleads with the Australian government to bring her home.
The unidentified woman, believed to be from western Sydney, penned an open letter to her family rehashing horrific stories of child rape and murder in the al-Hawl camp in north-east Syria.
She claims to have been coerced into travelling to Syria by her husband in 2014. He is believed to have died shortly after they arrived.
The mother-of-three pleaded with the Australian government to expedite her trip home, stating: ‘I’m an Australian – get me out of here.’
The 2,000 word letter paints a grim picture of life after the fall of ISIS.
An Australian woman who fled Australia to join ISIS has detailed the atrocities she witnessed inside the al-Hawl camp in north-east Syria (stock)
The unidentified woman, believed to be from Western Sydney, penned an open letter to her family rehashing stories of child rape and murder (stock)
The camp – designed to hold 20,000 people – is currently overflowing with more than 70,000 displaced civilians, former fighters and ISIS brides.
The woman said the Australian community is prominent in the camp, but has earned a target for holding ‘different values’ to ISIS loyalists, ABC reported.
She said a female mafia that trawls the camp have identified Australian women as ‘permissible to kill’.
The mafia are known to burn down tents with women and children inside, and have on some occasions decapitated women and children, the woman claimed.
‘They have an organised mafia who execute targeted attacks on women who fit the criteria. On numerous occasions, we have been warned that we were next,’ she said in her letter.
The letter appeals to the Australian sensibilities of community and forgiveness, as she pleads with the government to consider her children, who weren’t given the option to live in Australia.
The woman said the Australian community is quite prominent in the camp, but has earned a target for holding ‘different values’ to ISIS loyalists (stock)
She said a female mafia that trawls the camp have identified Australian women as ‘permissible to kill’ (stock)
‘I look at my broken life and my children and I feel anger at the reasons why they have been put in these situations I will never forgive or forget. It’s not their fault although they’re paying the highest price,’ she wrote.
‘We pray the world doesn’t turn a blind eye as we on the ground are being told by guards they plan to illegally send us to Iraq or let is be sold as sex slaves to Iran.’
The letter comes after eight Australian children were rescued from Syria two weeks ago.
The child orphans were transported to Iraq in a secret operation organised by the Australian government.
About 50 Australians are still stranded at al-Hawl and are now considered traitors by Islamic State loyalists, who remain active within the refugee camp.
Reports suggest the remaining Australians have been intimidated and threatened with horrific violence as a result of the evacuation of the eight children, according to The Australian.
ISIS extremists are threatening to burn Australian women and children alive after eight children were rescued from Syria. Sydney grandmother Karen Nettleton (pictured right) is seen being reunited with her grandchildren
ISIS extremists are threatening to burn Australian women and children alive after eight children were rescued from Syria. Around 50 people are still in al-Hawl and are being looked at as traitors by the extremists following the rescue organised by the Australian government, according to The Australian
Save The Children international policy director Matt Tinkler said: ‘Since the extraction, the risks for the 50 or so children and women who remain in the camps may have heightened.
‘Reports from the camp are that those remaining are being threatened and intimidated.’
He said the majority of those who remain are sick children and pregnant women who have ‘no place in a war zone’.
Amnesty International is calling for more Australians to be returned because they are starving, without water and are constantly threatened with violence in camps.
‘Around 60 Australian daughters, mothers, sisters, brothers and cousins remain trapped in this desperate part of Syria,’ Amnesty’s Australia refugee coordinator Graham Thom said in a statement.
‘The Australian government must do all in its powers to return all Australians who remain trapped in these camps.’
Save the Children are also calling for the return of more families.
Zaynab Sharrouf (pictured right) was evacuated from a refugee camp in Syria over the weekend, and gave birth to her third daughter on Monday night. Pictured with her Humzeh (left) who is still alive and Zarqawi (second from right) who is believed to be dead
Those recused included three orphaned children of Sydney terrorist Khaled Sharrouf, two of his grandchildren and three orphaned children of Yasin Rizvi.
Sharrouf’s eldest daughter Zaynab, 18, was one of those evacuated from the refugee camp, and gave birth to a daughter the next day, The Australian reported.
The birth comes after Zaynab and her two siblings were reunited with their grandmother, Karen Nettleton – who travelled from her home in Sydney to Syria earlier this year to find the children.
Zaynab was married when she was just 13, and gave birth to Ayesha three years ago, who she shares with Australian-born ISIS fighter Mohamed Elomar, her father Khaled’s best friend.
Sharrouf (pictured right), who was killed in 2017, had shared photos of him and his sons (pictured left) embracing their new lifestyle
Elomar was later killed, and Zaynab went on to marry another Islamic State militant – with whom she had a second child.
After the defeat of ISIS last year, the three surviving children were taken to the Kurdish-controlled camp in northern Syria.
The most recent birth means the Sharrouf children can come back to Australia earlier than expected, as authorities were waiting for Zaynab to have the baby before bringing them home.
The news of their return comes after their grandmother tracked her three surviving grandchildren to the al-Hawl refugee camp in March.
Karen finally found her grandchildren at the squalid campground of more than 70,000 refugees after trying to bring them home for five years.
Zaynab’s three children will be DNA tested to determine she is their mother, to make sure they’re eligible Australian citizens.
Zaynab, her three siblings, her two daughters, and three children of Melbourne extremist Yasin Rizvic – who travelled to Syria in 2014 – were taken out of the camp.
Rizvic was a Bosnian-born ISIS fighter, who was killed along with his wife and their eldest son.
Authorities in NSW and Victoria will work with the children to get them back into society.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday said the children should not be punished for the crimes of their parents.
The Australian Federal Police will debrief the children upon their return home, before they’re settled by the Department of Family and Community Service, The Australian reports.
Pictured: Zaynab (top left), Hoda (top right), and Humzeh (bottom, middle). Their two brothers (also pictured) are believed to have died in airstrikes