An Australian woman trapped with her two young children in a refugee camp for Islamic State families faces the full force of the law if she returns home, prime minister Scott Morrison says.
The woman, believed to be Zehra Duman from Melbourne, is being held at a refugee camp in north-east Syria and says she wants to come home because her baby is sick.
However, Mr Morrison has pushed back against pleas for help.
The prime minister declared he would not put any Australians at risk by helping home-grown extremists wanting to come home from the Middle East.
“They have made their decisions and if they are Australian citizens, well there’s a process for us to deal with them under Australian law, and they will face the full force of Australian law, should they be in a position to seek to come back to Australia,” he told 3AW radio.
Mr Morrison said it was a “great tragedy” Islamic State sympathisers had dragged their children into war zones.
“They have placed their children in this horrendous position,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.
“They have to take responsibility for those decisions to join up with terrorists who are fighting Australia.
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I feel bad for the kids, they didnt have a choice. We have very tough anti terrorism laws here, if she does get back then she'll go to jail. Hopefully the kids can get back safe, and not have their parents terrible desicions affect them for their life time.
I listened to an interview with a very interesting perspective on this. The children are innocent and deserve a chance and a life. The mother however, potentially still poses a risk to Australia by ending back in with terrorists. The only way to contain and control that risk is to bring her back and prosecute her. Our laws have been simplified when dealing with people who leave to join terror.