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       Returned ISIS wife Mariam Raad pleads guilty to entering terrorist-
       controlled region
        
 (HTM) Source
        
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         * **In short:** A woman charged with willingly entering Syria to be 
         * Mariam Raad was one of five women and 13 children repatriated from
         *  **What's next?** Raad will be sentenced at Goulburn Local Court i
        
       A woman who returned to Australia from Syria in 2022 has pleaded
       guilty to willingly entering a region controlled by a terrorist
       organisation.
        
       So-called ISIS bride Mariam Raad, 32, was arrested in January 2023
       following a joint investigation between NSW Police and the Australian
       Federal Police.
        
       She was charged with entering or remaining in an area controlled by
       the Islamic State group.
        
       Raad, from Young in southern NSW, appeared via video link in Goulburn
       Local Court on Wednesday wearing a maroon headscarf and black-rimmed
       glasses.
        
       She did not speak during the brief proceedings.
        
       Lawyers representing the Commonwealth and Raad told Magistrate Robert
       Rabbidge that a statement of facts had been agreed upon by both sides
       and a guilty plea had been entered.
        
       The offence carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
        
       Raad is on bail and will be sentenced in June.
        
       Mariam Raad, pictured in al-Hawl, northern Syria, has entered a plea
       on charges of willingly entering Syria to be with her ISIS fighter
       husband.(ABC: Four Corners)
        
       ## 'Happy to be home'
        
       Raad was charged following an investigation which began when she
       entered Syria in 2014 and continued after she and four other wives of
       ISIS fighters returned to Australia from Syria.
        
       Police alleged Raad willingly travelled to the region to join her
       husband Muhammad Zahab and was aware of his activities with the
       terrorist group.
        
       Speaking to the ABC from a refugee camp in 2021, Raad said she did not
       have a choice in going to Syria.
        
       "I didn't know my husband was a senior in the Islamic State, and I
       didn't even know anything about my husband's work," she said.
        
       Raad at Wagga Wagga local court after being granted bail in
       January.(ABC News)
        
       Raad's husband is believed to have died in 2018.
        
       The five women travelled from the Syrian Roj camp to Sydney, along
       with 13 children, in October 2022.
        
       Upon their return they released a statement saying they were happy to
       be back in Australia.
        
       "We are willing to do whatever is asked of us by government
       authorities to ensure the safety of our families and the Australian
       community, and we will fully cooperate with all Australian law
       enforcement agencies," the women said.
        
        
        
        
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