An Adelaide woman who swore allegiance to terrorist group Islamic State (IS) has been released from prison after serving her sentence, but will remain the subject of a federal control order. Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif, a 26-year-old former nursing student, was intercepted by police in 2016 as she tried to leave Australia on a one-way ticket to Turkey. She was found guilty by a jury in 2018 of intentionally being a member of Islamic State. That conviction was overturned in 2019 on appeal, and she was released — but her acquittal was quashed in October by the High Court, and she was sent back to prison to serve out the remaining 205 days of her three-year sentence. The High Court found that she had taken intentional steps to join the group, and reinstated her conviction for being an IS member. “[This] included swearing allegiance to the Caliph, and answering the call to go to Sham to serve in support of the jihadis by attempting to fly to Turkey by one-way flight without informing her family and without the resources to return,” the High Court said in its judgment. The Department for Correctional Services confirmed Abdirahman-Khalif was released from Adelaide Women’s Prison yesterday after completing her sentence.
