A group of supporters shield recently arrived people with links to Islamic State as they arrive at Melbourne Airport on May 7.© Getty Images

Two Islamic State-linked women have been charged with slavery offences after landing in Melbourne on Thursday night.

Grandmother Kawsar Abbas, 54, and 31-year-old daughter Zeinab Ahmad were among four women and nine children who arrived in Sydney and Melbourne amid a political debate over whether they should have been permitted to return home to Australia.

On Friday morning, the pair were charged with enslavement, and using a slave. Abbas was also charged with possessing a slave and engaging in slave trading.

The offences, which are considered “crimes against humanity”, each carry a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.

“It will be alleged the woman [Abbas] travelled to Syria in 2014 with her husband and children, and was complicit in the purchase of a female slave for $US10,000 ($13,875) and knowingly kept the woman in the home,” the Australian Federal Police said in a statement.

The mother and daughter were taken into police custody after arriving at Melbourne Airport. They are expected to face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

The women arrived from Syria, where they had been living in the al-Roj refugee camp for seven years after leaving Australia to join their partners, who were involved with Islamic State. They were detained in the camp by Kurdish forces in March 2019, the AFP said.

Abbas travelled to Syria with Zeinab and her other daughter, Zahra, to join her husband and the daughters’ father, Muhammad Ahmed.

The fourth woman who returned to Australia was not arrested. The children will be placed into anti-radicalisation programs and given psychological support as they begin a new life in Australia after spending most of their lives in war zones and decrepit camps.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said the investigation was active and involved “very serious allegations”.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Martin O’Brien said the safety of all Victorians remains paramount.

“Victoria Police will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners and other agencies to ensure there is no risk to our local community,” he said.

“We want to reassure all Victorians that anyone residing in our state who has committed serious criminal offences, including those returning from conflict areas, will be held to account.”

The women’s return has been the subject of a heated political debate, with the government insisting it had no role in their repatriation and that it could do little to intervene as the women were Australian citizens.

“It has always been the position of this government that we have not assisted the return of any of these people,” Labor senator Tim Ayres told Nine’s Today. “[There are] very strongly held views in the government that they should not have gone in the first place.”

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said on Friday morning that the government should have accessed special powers to deny the women entry.

“We offered to give the government more powers that were rejected,” he told ABC Radio National.

“I think what’s really important now is that the prime minister come out today and explain how this has helped … and he should explain to Australian people how he’s keeping them safe.”

Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume, appearing on Seven’s Sunrise, echoed Canavan’s comments that the government should have done more to deny passports or issue temporary protection orders.

She raised the case of a young Yazidi woman now living in Australia who was one of the children enslaved by Islamic State families.

“The trauma this woman has gone through is unimaginable. And now people just like her captors have been invited back to Australia.”