Amira Karroum, also known as Amira Ali[1] (1992–2014), was an Australian woman who traveled to war-torn Syria at age 21, after her husband Tyler Casey went there to be a jihadi fighter.[2] Shortly after her arrival, she was killed alongside Casey in Aleppo.[1] She was the first Australian woman to die in Syria in that war.[3] Her brother-in-law, Guy Staines, is also reported to have died there, in 2017.[4]
Amira Karroum | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1992 Australia |
| Died | January 2014 (aged 21–22) Aleppo, Syria |
| Other name | Amira Ali |
| Alma mater | St. Hilda's School, Queensland University of Technology |
| Known for | Leaving Australia to die in the Syrian jihad |
Early life and radicalization
editAmira was born and raised in Queensland in the Gold Coast area.[2] Her father, Mohamad Karroum, was Lebanese-Australian and her mother was New Zealand-Australian.[5] Mohammad, a non-practicing Muslim,[6] operated a kebab shop. After graduating St. Hilda's School in 2009,[7] Amira studied graphic design at the Queensland University of Technology.[3] She became more religious upon reaching adulthood and began wearing a face veil.[8]
In 2012, Amira moved to Sydney.[2] She met Tyler Casey while he was working for Street Dawah, proselytizing Islam on the streets of Sydney.[2] Street Dawah has been described as "extremist Islamist" by Greg Barton, the Director International of the Global Terrorism Research Center at Monash University. Amira's cousin was also part of Street Dawah.[9] Casey was a joint USA-Australian citizen who spent his teenage years in Colorado in the United States, where he became involved with gangs, then converted to Islam, then became radicalized and worked with Al Qaeda.[10][9] He was an international emissary for Al Qaeda and was trained for warfare in Egypt and Yemen, and received religious training in South Africa.[6]
Amira married Casey in April 2013.[8] After her marriage, Amira listed her occupation as "Slave of Allah" on her Facebook page. Her profile image was a picture of a garden with the phrase "Jannah is the motive".[2] She also posted, "Islam is my identity. The burqa is my shield. Jannah is my destination." On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, she posted, "Worst effing night. I'm proud of being a Muslim!!!!! 10 years of war in Afghanistan for two towers."[3]
One of the other worshippers at the mosque the couple attended later described Casey as "a very quiet, very gentle, a good natured person" and said "he wanted to go and help" in the Syrian Civil War. He said he had heard Casey had secured accommodation and sent for Amira and said that the couple knew the situation in Syria was dangerous.[11]
A few days before Amira's departure from Australia, her parents visited her for a few hours. Amira cried, and when Mohamad asked what was wrong, she told him she hated Australia.[12] After she left her half-brother said the family had "no idea" how she came to be in Syria.[13]
Travel to Syria and death
editIn June 2013, Amira's husband Tyler Casey, who had adopted the name Yusuf Ali, flew to Singapore and then traveled to Syria, saying he was going to do humanitarian work, but some of the other worshippers at his mosque believed he was joining the jihad.[2][8]
After his departure, Hamdi Alqudsi became close to Amira, and promised to give her a new car and a thousand Australian dollars in cash, telling her, "I want you to feel like I’m your older brother. I want you to feel like you trust me." He would later be charged with recruiting seven men and assisting them in their travels to Syria to fight with Jabhat Al Nusra and other jihadist groups.[2][3]
On December 17, 2013, Amira left Australia.[12] She told her family she would be visiting friends, then doing humanitarian aid work after that.[8] She spent a week in Copenhagen, then joined Casey in Syria and they settled in Aleppo.[14] At the time, Casey was working for Jabhat Al Nusra.[2]
Only three weeks after Amira left Australia,[12] Amira and Casey were killed together in their house in Aleppo.[1][2] Initial reports said the couple was killed by the Free Syrian Army, but later reports said they had in fact been killed by militants associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Jabhat Al Nusra's rival.[6][10] Their bodies were reportedly dismembered afterwards.[2] Casey and Amira were both 22 years old when killed.[10]
Aftermath and impact on family
editAmira was the first Australian woman to die in Syria. When Mohamed in Australia found out the news of her death, he experienced a mild heart attack.[3] Amira's sister, Rose, shared a tribute to her and Casey on her own Facebook page, calling Amira "an exceptional woman, a humanitarian" and saying her sister and brother-in-law had been "parted by something bigger than them."[15] She deemed the couple "martyrs".[16] Her sister said the family would attempt to bring Amira’s body back to Australia.[7]
Rose and Amira had been close to each other prior to her departure to Syria, and both were devout Muslims.[15][17] Rose had been aware of her sister's plans to go to Syria, and had chosen not to share them with anyone.[1] The Masjid Noor mosque in the Sydney suburb of Granville held a memorial service for Amira and Casey, at Rose's request.[8]
Her family issued a statement saying, "Publicity and harassment of family and friends, which seems to be fuelled by the media, adds to our trauma and distress and does not help with our grieving process" and asked the media to not sensationalize the tragedy.[1] Amira had left a life insurance policy worth $300,000, which the insurance company refused to pay due to her terrorist links. Her father argued the policy should be paid out because, he said, his daughter had been "tricked" into traveling to Syria and that it was not illegal at the time for an Australian to travel to Syria.[18]
In an interview with A Current Affair in December 2014, Mohamed Karroum also announced plans to sue the Australian federal government and then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott over his daughter's death, saying "They are responsible" and "The Australian Federal Police and ASIO are not doing their job. It is a fact." He said Casey had been under surveillance but had been allowed to leave the country, and that federal police had raided Amira's home and seized her phone, tablet and computer, but did not prevent her from leaving the country only one day later. Mohamed said his daughter Amira was "used as bait" to help catch senior Al Qaeda figures.[19]
Rose was married to Guy Staines, a man who had embraced radical Islam while serving a prison sentence for murder.[20] In 2015, less than two years after his release from prison,[21] Staines left Australia and disappeared. He was thought to have traveled to Syria or Iraq. In July 2016, his family in Australia said they had not heard from him in over a year.[22] In the spring of 2017, Staines was reported to have been killed in a drone strike.[4]
Between June and October 2013, Hamdi Alqudsi helped seven people travel to Syria to join the civil war there. In connection with this, he was charged with providing services with the intention of supporting hostile acts in Syria.[23] He was not, however, charged with recruiting Amira.[2] In 2016, Alqudsi was sentenced to eight years in prison.[23][24] While still in prison, in 2019, Alqudsi was charged with knowingly directing the activities of a terrorist organisation called the "Shura" which discussed terror attacks in Sydney. He was convicted in September 2022 and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.[24]
See also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 Jabour, Bridie (17 January 2014). "Body of Australian woman killed in Syria unlikely to be repatriated". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "How ISIS seduced Gold Coast private schoolgirl Amira Karroum". news. Archived from the original on 18 November 2024. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Stolz, Greg; Mullany, Ashlee; McMahon, Chris (17 January 2014). "Amira Karroum was one of many Australians being recruited to fight in Syria". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 "Vile jihadist's son poses with dead man". Herald Sun. 7 May 2017. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
- ↑ Jabour, Bridie (14 January 2014). "Family of Australian woman believed killed in Syria seek return of body". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 "How a young Australian couple came to die in Syria". ABC News. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 Stolz, Greg (14 January 2014). "'My heart will never heal': grieving mother says of Amira Karroum, Australian woman killed in civil war in Syria with husband Yusuf Ali". The Herald Sun. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Cuneo, Clementine (14 January 2014). "Family and friends gather at Sydney mosque to remember slain Muslim woman Amira Karroum and her husband Yusuf Ali". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 "Aim must be to break the cycle of radicalisation". Monash University. 22 April 2015. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 Porter, Geoff (29 September 2014). "New Developments in Australian Foreign Fighter Activity". Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Archived from the original on 18 January 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ McClellan, Ben; Cuneo, Clementine; Mullany, Ashlee (14 January 2014). "Sheik denies he led couple killed in Syria to take up radical cause". Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 Ardern, Lucy; Mcelroy, Nicholas (12 December 2014). "Gold Coast father says he will sue Federal Govt over daughter's death during war in Syria". The Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ Cuneo, Clementine (14 January 2014). "Aussie beauty killed in Syrian hellhole had a secret jihad life". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ Cuneo, Clementine (14 January 2014). "Aussie beauty killed in Syrian hellhole had a secret jihad life". The Mercury. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 Stolz, Greg (15 January 2014). "Rose Karroum writes Facebook tribute to sister Amira, killed in Syria alongside husband Yusaf Ali". The Advertiser. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ Stolz, Greg; Mullany, Ashlee; McMahon, Chris (17 January 2014). "Amira Karroum was one of many Australians being recruited to fight in Syria". The Advertiser. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ Bedo, Stephanie (15 January 2014). "Amira Karroum's sister Rose made violent comments online defending Islamic faith". The Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ "Father Claims Daughter's Life Insurance | Contesting A Will (Brisbane)". Archived from the original on 3 August 2025. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ "Father says he'll take the federal government to court over his daughter's death in Syria". 9 News. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ Moody, Sherele (15 July 2016). "Is killer jackaroo turned suspected jihadi in Syria?". The Chronicle. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ Hart, Amber (1 September 2020). "Risks, radicalisation and rehabilitation: imprisonment of incarcerated terrorists". Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism. 15 (3): 189–208. doi:10.1080/18335330.2020.1817527. ISSN 1833-5330. Archived from the original on 23 June 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
- ↑ Moody, Sherele (15 July 2016). "Is killer jackaroo turned suspected jihadi in Syria?". The Chronicle. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 Bolza, Miklos (11 April 2023). "Terrorist commander jailed for 15 years". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 25 March 2024. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 "Hamdi Alqudsi convicted and sentenced for directing activities of a terrorist organisation". CDPP: Australia's Federal Prosection Service. 2023. Archived from the original on 10 March 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.