Adelaide woman jailed for three years for having ISIS membership

An Adelaide woman has been jailed for three years after she was found to be a member of the Islamic State terror group.

Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif communicated with other members and organised a trip to join Isis before she was arrested, lied to police and showed no remorse for her involvement.

The 24-year-old was last year found guilty by a supreme court jury, in South Australia’s first terrorism trial, and showed no emotion as Justice David Peek sentenced her on Tuesday.

She was handed a non-parole period of two years, three months, backdated to her arrest in May 2017.

Abdirahman-Khalif was stopped by police at Adelaide Airport while trying to board a plane to Istanbul, Turkey, in July 2016.

She told officers she was taking a last-minute holiday, despite having a small amount of clothing, no return flight and less than $200 in funds.

Justice Peek said he agreed her secret trip to Turkey was “in order to engage with the terrorist organisation, IS”.

“There is no getting around the fact that you blatantly lied to police about this matter,” he said.

The Somalian refugee was later released but arrested at the Port Adelaide Tafe campus in May 2017, following a police investigation.

Peek said Abdirahman-Khalif had repeatedly expressed support for Isis and jihad by playing chants about martyrdom, infidels, extreme violence, killing and death.

He said while she was in continuous contact with group members, including three women who carried out a deadly attack at a Kenyan police station, she was not involved in performing violent acts of terrorism.

“You were not found to be a terrorist in the sense of a person who is disposed to planning or committing acts of violence and your membership did not involve you undertaking any particular tasks or responsibilities for IS,” he said.

Peek said Abdirahman-Khalif spent the first 14 years of her life in refugee camps, which deprived her of a normal childhood and narrowed her real-world experience.

But he could not find that she had positive rehabilitation prospects because she refused to give evidence explaining her actions, her current views and her future plans.

“It is not established that you no longer hold those extremist jihadist and Islamic State views,” he said.

Abdirahman-Khalif is appealing her conviction.

She will be eligible for parole later this year.

Source: The Guardian