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Returned ISIS wife Mariam Raad pleads guilty to entering terrorist-controlled region

a man holding a child and hugging a woman

Police alleged that Mariam Raad went to Syria with husband and ISIS fighter Muhammad Zahab. (Supplied)

In short:A woman charged with willingly entering Syria to be with her Islamic State militant husband has pleaded guilty.
Mariam Raad was one of five women and 13 children repatriated from the Syrian Roj camp to Sydney in October 2022.
What’s next?Raad will be sentenced at Goulburn Local Court in June.

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.

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.

a woman covered with a hijab enters into a car

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.