More at ... https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation ... 3c4b2a616bAustralians fighting with Islamic State are being investigated over allegations they bought Yazidi women, raped them and held them as sex slaves, as part of a widening AFP probe into jihadis.
The Australian can reveal that Australian Federal Police investigators have been sent to Europe to interview suspected sexual assault victims as part of a wide-ranging investigation into dozens of Australians in northern Syria.
Investigators have collected a number of harrowing and disturbing statements from the women, who have been resettled as refugees in Europe.
The women have offered graphic descriptions of the brutal treatment they say they suffered at the hands of Australian fighters.
The allegations have emerged as the AFP ramps up its investigations of Australians in Syria who fought with Islamic State.
The AFP has sent at least four extra police officers to Jordan tasked with gathering evidence against the Australians marooned in the al-Hawl refugee camp and in Syrian army detention.
They are in addition to the two AFP liaison officers permanently stationed there.
The AFP has also doubled the size of its Australia-based team of investigators with a view to drawing up indictments against foreign fighters. Most of the attention so far has been on the Australian men, thought to number fewer than 20, who are being held in detention by the Syrian Defence Force.
In addition to the string of terrorism charges they may face, several are also being investigated for sexual servitude or sexual assault stemming from their alleged treatment of the women who were bought and sold at Islamic State “slave auctions’’ across the caliphate.
Among those held by the Kurds is Sydney man Hamza Elbaf, who in 2014 made national headlines after he travelled with his three brothers to Syria and joined Islamic State.
The 27-year-old played down his role within the terror group, telling Kurdish media he was a cook, not a combatant.
He denied any involvement in the trafficking of sex slaves, claiming he had heard of the practice but had not participated in it.
“[It was] impossible,” Elbaf said. “They wouldn’t let you. It was done secretly. Only high-ranking people and princes in the Islamic State had access.”
Investigations are being ramped up as the Morrison government moves to harden its line against returning foreign fighters.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has said it was “very difficult’’ to see how Australians who joined Islamic State could come back.
The AFP officers seconded from the agency’s counter-terrorism team to travel throughout the Middle East and Iraq have been collecting evidence against suspected Australian members of Islamic State.
The Australian has been told AFP investigators have retrieved phones, laptops and other devices thought to belong to suspected jihadis, as well as reams of documents meticulously maintained by Islamic State, which are now being used to build criminal cases.
Among the documents seized are hospital records, resumes and even hotel guest books bearing the signatures of Australians who travelled into the Islamic State caliphate.
Investigators are paying particular attention to phone records and photos retrieved from devices, which they hope will prove the Australians were actively engaged in hostilities for Islamic State.
While there is no talk of extraditing any of the Australians still in Syria, police want to be in a position to prosecute should any of the men come home, although they acknowledge most are unlikely to.
There are about 63 women and children in refugee camps in northern Syria. More than half are thought to be children under the age of five.
An AFP spokesperson said the agency had deployed investigators to Amman, Jordan.
“The AFP has also increased the number of investigators based in Australia working on investigating Australians of counter-terrorism interest believed to be located in the Middle East,’’ the spokesperson said.
“The AFP currently has two … investigative teams in Canberra dedicated to this issue.’’
Let them rot over there or send in more drones.
