A 31-year-old woman accused of holding a Yazidi teenager in slavery has returned to the Melbourne Magistrates Court for a second day of her bail hearing, as she continues her bid for freedom. According to the report, Zainab Ahmad is seeking release while she awaits the resolution of serious charges, a request that is being firmly contested in court.
Prosecutors are hotly opposing the application, telling the court that Ahmad would pose an unacceptable risk of endangering others in the community if she were to be released on bail. Their argument frames her as a continuing danger rather than someone who can safely be allowed back into the community while the case proceeds.
At the heart of the case are serious slavery charges, which the prosecution says involve the forced detention of a 15-year-old Yazidi girl. The court has heard that the victim was subjected to physical and sexual assault, and that she was forced to serve the family household during the period she was held in Syria.
Prosecutors have also sought to address the question of how Ahmad came to be in Syria in the first place. They argued that she did not end up there by accident but went over willingly, a point they say is relevant to assessing both the charges against her and the risk she would present if granted bail.
Beyond the allegations involving the teenager, the prosecution told the court that Ahmad entered into multiple marriages with men who were linked to Islamic State and that she supported the group's activities. They further argued that she has never explicitly renounced or said that she no longer supports the ethos of Islamic State since she was forced to surrender to Kurdish forces.
The hearing has also included evidence from one of the Australian Federal Police officers involved in the case. He told the court that while Ahmad did not ever physically hurt the victim, she did treat her very badly, a characterisation that sits at the center of how the alleged mistreatment is being described.
Under questioning by Ahmad's lawyer, however, the same officer conceded that all of the women, including the accused, were facing severe restrictions under the ISIS regime in Syria, a point the defence is likely to lean on. The case is set to continue, with the bail bid still to be decided as the court weighs the competing arguments.