Somali Woman Accused Of Being ISIS Member Arrested In Australia

The identity of a young Adelaide woman, accused of being South Australia’s first member of terror group Islamic State (ISIS), can be revealed for the first time.

Zainab Abdirahaman-Khalif, 23, who moved to Australia from Somalia when she was 14, is accused of pledging her allegiance to the terror group online.

The nursing student was arrested at the Port Adelaide TAFE campus by Australian Federal Police in May last year, but a court-imposed secrecy order had prevented publication of her name and image until now.

Abdirahaman-Khalif is accused of singing ISIS propaganda songs at her home and swearing her loyalty to the group online.

At the time of the arrest, Assistant Commissioner Ian McCartney from Australian Federal Police said “there was online activity in terms of her engaging with … (terror) suspects around the world.”

“She is of Somali origin, but we’re not targeting race. We’re targeting ideologies (and) we’re targeting criminality,” he said.

Abdirahaman-Khalif’s lawyer, Craig Caldicott, has previously questioned the evidence used to charge his client.