00:02We've heard from people in the Al-Raj camp in North East Syria who knew Hodarn Abbey,
00:07who spent time with her, have alleged, as you say, that she was something of an enforcer
00:11of Sharia law, that she caused a lot of problems in the camp.
00:15One of the things we've been told is that if women weren't wearing the Islamic State
00:19approved black veil, she would leave a niqab and a knife outside their tent at night as
00:24a warning, wear this or else.
00:26We've also heard that in 2021, she allegedly hit a woman with a hammer over an ideological
00:31dispute.
00:32We've also heard that she was quite problematic in the camp with some of her behaviour in terms
00:38of soliciting donations online from Islamic State men, taking instructions from Islamic
00:45State commanders outside the camp and passing them on within the camp.
00:49We've also heard that she did do time, but we're not sure why, in the Kurdish camp prison.
00:55It's an informal prison that doesn't have any formal jurisdiction or sort of processes.
01:01That allegedly happened in 2021, 2022.
01:04And she's been described to us as essentially a true believer of ISIS ideology.
01:09Now, it's worth saying that other than those allegations that relate to 2021 and 2022, we
01:14don't know exactly when this behaviour occurred and whether it's reflective of her more recent
01:19years in that camp.
01:20Okay.
01:20So, Steph, what else did you learn about who she associated with her time in Syria?
01:25Yeah.
01:25So, one of the sources in the camp said she was quite close to the Essa family, which is
01:29not a known family here in Australia, but quite notorious in other parts of the world.
01:33They're a Dutch Somali family and one of the women is Khadra Essa.
01:37She's accused of being a chief instructor for an all-female Islamic State battalion.
01:42She's encouraged attacks in other countries abroad.
01:45She's also accused of kidnapping two US children who were in the ISIS self-declared caliphate
01:51and hiding them from authorities.
01:53Her sister is also accused of having done the same, hiding an American-born child, an orphan,
01:59when the authorities are trying to get them out of the Islamic State caliphate.
02:02So, a family that's been described to us as very, very cruel and very, very radical.
02:08Okay.
02:08The Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, has been asked about this today.
02:11What was his response?
02:13So, we don't know exactly where Hodarn Abbey is.
02:15She had a temporary exclusion order put on her earlier this year, preventing her from coming
02:19back to Australia.
02:20That was revoked last month.
02:22We believe she's somewhere in Syria.
02:24Tony Burke said that he is aware of her whereabouts, but let's listen to what he had to say about
02:29her actually coming home.
02:30She may well, having seen some people who returned, be arrested on arrival at the airport.
02:37She'd be weighing up the different things that she's done and would be making a decision
02:42as to whether or not she, in fact, ever returns.
02:46And our agencies continue to build evidence.
02:49Sometimes people have been arrested at the airport, sometimes, as you've seen as well,
02:53we've continued to collect additional evidence after their arrival and arrests have happened
02:58later.
02:59And Stephanie, has there been any response from Ms Hodder herself or her lawyers?
03:04No.
03:04So, as I said, Ms Abbey is somewhere in Syria and we haven't been able to talk to her.
03:08We've put these allegations to her lawyers and also allegations that we revealed last
03:12week that she allegedly abused a young Yazidi girl who was enslaved in her home.
03:17Her lawyers haven't responded to that.
03:19We've also asked the Australian Federal Police whether they're aware of any of these allegations,
03:23and if they have plans to charge her, should she return?
03:26And they've said that they have no comment.
03:27And they have no comment.
03:28That's it.
03:28So, I'm going to try to talk to her.
03:28And then, you know, the need to do things that is not a big deal.
03:29And, you know, in the future, you know, what is this one of the most important things that
03:29I think that's it.
03:29And I think that's it.
03:30So, you know, that's it.
Comments