Suhayra Aden

Suhayra Aden (born 1995) is a New Zealander and former dual Australian citizen who travelled to Syria in 2014 to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Due to her ties to ISIL, she was stripped of her Australian citizenship. In February 2021, she was detained by Turkish authorities while trying to enter the country with her two children. Turkey subsequently dropped charges against Aden and began proceedings to deport her.
Background.
Suhayra Aden was born in 1995 in Auckland's Mount Roskill suburb. Aden grew up in a Somalian refugee family who had become naturalised New Zealanders. According to a 1 News report, her father was unemployed while her mother was a housewife. At the age of six, she and her family migrated to Melbourne, Australia where they subsequently acquired Australian citizenship.
Joining ISIL and repatriation.
In 2014, Aden traveled to Syria via Turkey to live under the Islamic State. According to the ABC News journalist Dylan Welch, she experienced second thoughts about traveling to Syria and unsuccessfully attempted to call her mother in order to return to Australia. However, she was traveling with a group bound for Syria and unable to escape from them. She traveled in a van to a part of Syria controlled by the Islamic State. While there, she married and had three children to two Swedish men. One of her children subsequently died of pneumonia in Syria.
Between September and October 2019, the ABC journalists Dylan Welch and Suzanne Drudge met Aden and her children at the Al-Hawl refugee camp in Syria while on an assignment to interview several Australian women who had joined ISIL. Aden reportedly expressed her desire to return to Australia. In 2020, the Australian Government stripped her of her Australian citizenship, leaving her as a New Zealand national. On 15 February 2021, she and her two surviving children (who both have New Zealand citizenship) were detained by Turkish authorities while crossing the border from Idlib. The Turkish Ministry of National Defence alleged that Aden was an ISIL terrorist. On 20 February, the Turkish Government dropped charges against Aden and began proceedings to deport her.
On 9 March 2021, Radio New Zealand reported than an unidentified Turkish Foreign Ministry official stated that the New Zealand Foreign Affairs officials had indicated they would take Aden home but to expect delays due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. That same day, an unidentified New Zealand cabinet minister stated that Aden would be "free subject to conditions" upon returning to New Zealand. Justice Minister Andrew Little and Police Minister Poto Williams indicated that Aden would be subject to monitoring under "Control Orders," which were criticized by Opposition Leader Judith Collins as insufficient.
Political responses.
The Australian Government's decision to revoke Aden's Australian citizenship was criticised by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who accused Australia of abdicating its responsibilities to its citizens and indicated she had raised the matter with her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. Ardern confirmed that New Zealand was providing consular support to Aden and her children. Morrison defended Australia's decision as putting Australia's national security interests first, citing legislation allowing Australia to revoke the citizenship of a dual national engaged in terrorist activities. Following a phone conversation, the two leaders agreed to work together in the "spirit of the relationship" to address what Ardern described as "quite a complex legal situation."
Public responses.
Rodger Shahanan of the Australian think tank Lowy Institute opined that the New Zealand Government was legally and morally obliged to look after dual New Zealand nationals who had been stripped of their foreign nationality. By contrast, University of Auckland law Associate-Professor John Ip criticised Australia's decision to revoke Aden's citizenship as an example of "legalised NIMBYism with dual citizens as objects." Similarly, University of Waikato law professor Claire Breen argued that Aden's children were innocent and should be entitled to basic human rights protection including citizenship in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which both Australia and New Zealand are signatories to.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand's spokesperson Anjum Rahman called for New Zealand to establish de-radicalisation programmes based on the Australian and British models. Legal expert Paul Buchanan opined that prosecutors would have to prove that Aden supported ISIL for her to be charged under anti-terror legislation such as the Terrorism Suppression Act. Similar sentiments were echoed by University of Waikato law Professor Alexander Gillespie who also opined that steps needed to be taken to integrate Aden's two children into New Zealand society.