Widow admits supporting Australian IS husband in Syria

ISIS flag.

SYDNEY — The widow of a notorious Australian Islamic State militant pleaded guilty in a Sydney court on Monday to supporting her husband’s fighting in Syria.

Sydney-born jihadi Mohamed Elomar was killed in an airstrike in the Islamic State movement stronghold of Raqqa in Syria in June. He was 30 years old.

His widow Fatima Elomar, 31, was stopped at Sydney Airport with her four children in May last year as she attempted to join her husband in Syria.

She was carrying cash, camouflage gear and medicine.

She pleaded guilty in the New South Wales state District Court to one count of supporting foreign hostile acts in the month before she attempted to leave the country.

She was released on bail and will appear in court for sentencing on April 1. It was not immediately clear what prison sentence she could face.

Australian police announced in July last year that they had arrest warrants for Mohamed Elomar and his Sydney-born friend Khaled Sharrouf for terrorist offenses. Both left Australia in 2013 for Syria.

The police announcement came a week after photographs were posted on a Twitter account linked to Sharrouf that showed Elomar smiling and holding the severed heads of two Syrian soldiers.

With Fatima Elomar stranded in Australia, her husband married Sharouff’s 13-year-old daughter in Syria. TVJ