Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif trial: Nursing student bought ‘one-way ticket’ to Turkey to join Islamic State, prosecutor alleges
AN Adelaide nursing student bought a one-way ticket to Turkey and left home, without telling her family and with only hand luggage and $170 in cash, on a religious pilgrimage to join terror group Islamic State, a court has heard.
AN Adelaide nursing student bought a one-way ticket to Turkey and left home, without telling her family and with only hand luggage and $170 in cash, on a religious pilgrimage to join terror group Islamic State, a court has heard.
On Monday, a Supreme Court jury was told Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif wanted to make her way to IS-controlled areas of Syria and Iraq to join the group’s activities, and kept its propaganda on her phone and computer.
It is alleged that, at Mansfield Park between July 14, 2016 and May 23, 2017, she was intentionally a member of IS, knowing it to be a terrorist organisation.
Abdirahman-Khalif, 23, has pleaded not guilty to one count of being a member of a terrorist organisation.
Commonwealth prosecutor Chris Winneke QC said Abdirahman-Khalif was communicating with three young African women in the lead up to their attack on a police station in Kenya.
Mr Winneke said there was a “degree of common ideologies” between the accused and the three women in Mombasa.
“It’s not the Crown case that the defendant was in any way complicit, or involved, in the event in Mombasa,” he said.
“It is not alleged that the defendant is in any way involved in the organisation of, or commission of, any specific acts at all.
“But the Crown does have evidence that suggests that the defendant had some knowledge that the events in Mombasa was going to occur, prior to it occurring.”
He said the jihadi attack at Mombasa was claimed by IS and Abdirahman-Khalif spoke to one of the women about how to travel to IS territory.
Mr Winneke QC said the case against Abdirahman-Khalif was circumstantial, but that the evidence would prove the allegations.
“Unbeknownst to her family and using her savings, the defendant purchased over the internet a one-way ticket from Adelaide to Istanbul via Singapore Airlines … she did not purchase a return ticket.
“The next day, without telling her mother and brothers she was leaving the country, with only hand luggage and only $170 — $180, she set out for the airport — however, before boarding the flight, she was detained.
“Her hijrah — similar to a religious pilgrimage — was prevented.”
Mr Winneke said Abdirahman-Khalif did not possess a hard-copy of her alleged membership with IS.
“If you needed to prove someone was a member of the South Australian Cricket Association, you’d produce a members’ log or card,” he said.
“But it’s not something the Crown can do in this case.”
Mr Winneke said her alleged membership could be proved by a number of factors, including “identifying strongly with IS ideologies, it’s aims and it’s leadership”.
He said she accessed IS propaganda on the internet, recited songs about violence towards to West and swore an oath of allegiance to the leader of IS in her bedroom.
He said Abdirahman-Khalif used her phone to film herself on the front porch of her Mansfield Park home, wearing Islamic dress, while a nasheed — Islamic song — played in the background.
He said the nasheed was called “Walking Alone In The Dark” and one of the lyrics was about walking alone in the dark towards “the home of jihad”.
The court was also told Abdirahman-Khalif took a photo of herself in her bedroom, again wearing Islamic dress, while pointing her right index finger towards the ceiling.
“That’s a symbolic pose used by Islamic State jihadists,” he said.
He said investigators found 379 audio files of nasheeds, 125 video files produced by IS media and 62 video files that include extreme violence, including executions, on Abdirahman-Khalif’s phone.
“She described herself as a Muwahideen — that’s a self-identifying term the Crown says is used by members of IS,” he said.
He said Abdirahman-Khalif also spoke in chat groups which had IS symbols across the banner and used encryption messaging service ‘Telegram’, commonly used by IS.
Mr Winneke said Abridahman-Khalif was born to Somali parents of the Sunni faith in the Utange refugee camp in Mombasa, Kenya, in January 1995.
She then moved, with her mother and brothers, to the Kakuma camp in northern Kenya, and finally to Adelaide when she was 13.
The family lived at Mansfield Park while she studied at the Adelaide English School, the Islamic College of SA and Roma Mitchell Secondary before pursuing a career in nursing.
“She studied for a diploma of science and technology, which was a pathway to nursing at the University of SA,” he said.
“But she withdrew from the course in March 2016 … at some point prior to July 14, she had decided to cease her studies in nursing and follow a different path.”
Mr Winneke reminded jurors that Abdirahman-Khalif had the presumption of innocence and did not have to prove she was not guilty of the offence.
He said the prosecution had to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that Abdirahman-Khalif was, at some point between those dates, a member of IS.
He said it must also prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that she knew IS was a terrorist organisation that was “involved in preparing, planning, assisting or fostering” terrorist acts.
IS’ goal, he said, was to “influence or intimidate” governments or the public by “advancing a political, ideological or religious cause” — the creation of an Islamic state in the Middle East — through violence and “global jihad”.
Mr Winneke said that, at the time Abdirahman-Khalif attempted to travel to Turkey, the group “held territory” in both Iraq and Syria and had called on Muslims in the West to commit acts of violence.
The trial, before Justice David Peek and a jury to seven men and six women, is expected to be heard over four or five weeks.