Aussie mum who allegedly groomed her toddlers to be Islamic State terrorists with graphic extremist propaganda videos wins her freedom

By WAYNE FLOWER, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 06:13, 20 July 2026 | Updated: 06:16, 20 July 2026 An Australian woman accused of joining Islamic State and allegedly filming her young children being shown extremist propaganda has been released from custody.  ISIS bride Rayann El Houli, 34, returned to Australia last year and was charged with terrorism offences after living in the community for months. The Broadmeadows woman was charged with one count of entering or remaining in declared areas and one count of being a member of a terrorist organisation.  She faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday via video link from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, and was expected to be released on Monday afternoon.  Her bail had been strongly opposed by Australian Federal Police, who claimed she remained a threat to the community if released on bail.  AFP Senior Constable Paul Sherlock told the court no bail restrictions could mitigate the risk El Houli posed if released from jail.  The officer took the court through several videos allegedly featuring El Houli, including one where she was heard coaching her eldest daughter, then a toddler, on how to hold a toy weapon 'the way the mujahideen' do.  El Houli allegedly travelled from Melbourne to Syria in September 2014 with her husband and two infant children, then aged around one year and three months.  Alleged ISIS bride Rayann El Houli as she appeared in court in May. She has since stopped covering her face She remained in IS-held territory for roughly three years before the group’s territorial defeat in 2019, during which time she had two more children and married two additional Australian members of the group, both of whom were later killed.  The court heard police alleged El Houli appeared in at least three videos over 2015 and 2016. In these, she was heard prompting her children with scripted questions about violence and religious duty, set against a backdrop of jihadist chanting.  A May 2015 video allegedly captured El Houli repeatedly asking her eldest child who the ‘mujahideen’ were and what happened to people IS referred to as ‘disbelievers’.  The child was allegedly prompted into answering: 'Hellfire.'  'Did you see how the mujahideen killed the kuffar, the infidels, with the knife? Look at me - how do they sword them with the knife? How do they slaughter him with the knife?' she allegedly asked.  'How do they slaughter the apostate? Show me how.' The child, barely old enough to speak in full sentences, did not answer several of the questions. Prosecutors claimed a second video, recorded in March 2016, showed El Houli exposing two of her children to further extremist material, including French and Arabic language propaganda addressed to western audiences. Alleged ISIS bride Rayann El Houli upon her arrest by Australian Federal Police Rayann El Houli's children allegedly slept on a bed with an AK-47 assault rifle leaning against the wall next to them. Rayann El Houli allegedly encouraged her two-year-old toddler to act like an ISIS fighter while holding a toy rifle A third video, filmed days later in the same month, allegedly captured El Houli instructing the child on how to hold a toy gun 'like a terrorist' and asking her on camera to demonstrate how fighters 'slaughter' opponents with a knife. The AFP alleged the recordings were not simply passive exposure to propaganda, but a deliberate and repeated pattern of behaviour. El Houli allegedly used her own small children as subjects in extremist media, filming over roughly ten months.  The court heard the videos were discovered years later from the phones of her relatives in Australia. Between 2019 and 2020, AFP investigators - then operating as part of a now-disbanded returning-terrorism taskforce - executed six search warrants on family members' homes.  Devices seized in those raids revealed years of WhatsApp contact between El Houli in Syria and her family, including the videos, along with images allegedly showing her children in a room with an assault rifle propped against the wall.  The court heard El Houli had been offered counselling to deradicalise her after her return to Australia, but she initially declined to take part.  Her barrister Peter Morrissey SC told the court at an earlier hearing his client had since rejected the Islamic State terror group and wanted 'nothing to do with it'. 'She renounces ISIS and violent jihad, she wants nothing to do with it. Not now, not in the future, not directly, not indirectly. Not for herself, not for the people she loves and specifically not for her children,' he said. Barrister Peter Morrissey SC departs Melbourne Magistrates' Court last month El Houli had been held by Kurdish authorities since March 2019 after the collapse of Islamic State and remained in al-Hawl camp with family members. Police allege she travelled to Syria with several individuals, including a man believed to be imprisoned in the Middle East.  The return of former ISIS-linked women Kawsar Abbas, her daughters Zeinab and Zahra Ahmad, and Janai Safar in May led authorities to also charge El Houli. Kawsar Abbas and Zeinab Ahmad have also been accused of crimes against humanity and slavery-related offences connected to alleged conduct in Syria. In coming to his decision, Magistrate Brett Sonnett accepted El Houli would likely suffer hardship behind bars due to expected delays in bringing her to trial.  She has already spent two months behind bars.   Mr Sonnett told the court El Houli now suffers from depression and is likely suffering from multiple sclerosis.  He said any risk she might pose to the community could be mitigated by strict bail conditions, which she must adhere to until her trial.