Australia: Widow of Isis terrorist Mohamed Elomar given 2-year suspended sentence

Fatima Elomar was accused of helping and providing support to her husband, who fought for Daesh in Iraq.

An Australian District Court has handed a 27-month suspended sentence to the widow of slain terrorist Mohammed Elomar, for supporting him in his fight for Islamic State (Isis). Fatima Elomar was accused of helping and providing support to her husband, who fought for IS (Daesh) in Iraq.

The 31-year-old was arrested in May 2014 by counter-terrorism officers at Sydney Airport as she was allegedly preparing to board a flight to Malaysia.

During her hearing on Friday (1 July), Justice Penelope Hock said that Fatima's offence was low level and her fault was not that gruesome, as she was only sending everyday items to her terrorist husband.

However, the crown prosecutor during sentencing submissions told the court that although Fatima was not sending arms and ammunition to her husband, her goods were intended to "promote, support and assist her husband to go into Syria as a foreign fighter".

Fatima's lawyer, Greg James told the court that his client was "concerned to maintain the marriage".

"There was no such circumstance as would warrant her terminating the marriage and hence his influence as a husband," he said, adding that the things that Fatima bought for her husband "wasn't to make him a more effective warrior, it was to clothe him".

The lawyer also argued against a custodial sentence in the court and asked the court to consider the sentence's affect on Fatima and her children. "She's not a person whose primary objective is to aid foreign hostilities," he stressed.

Fatima's husband was killed while fighting in Iraq in 2015.