Melbourne woman marries jihadi playboy
A young Melbourne woman has become the latest Australian to sneak overseas and into the arms of an Islamic State fighter, reportedly marrying a former playboy turned ISIS extremist.
Zehra Duman's parents said the 21-year-old has been 'brainwashed' and they are desperately working with authorities to bring her home, News Corp reports.
She had declared she would burn her Australian passport as she traveled to meet Mahmoud Abdullatif, a former Melbourne party boy-turned Muslim extremist, who joined IS terrorist fighters in the Middle East earlier this year.
The pair reportedly announced their marriage online on December 11.
Zehra's father Davut Duman said her behaviour was out of character and he feared for his daughter’s safety.
"She's been brainwashed, she wasn’t like this three or four months ago," Mr Duman told News Corp.
"We're trying desperately, trying to bring our daughter home... we’ve got the police involved.
"It’s very difficult for us to cope."
While family said they do not know how the couple met, it is reported that young Australian women are being seduced via social media to travel to Syria for marriage.
She had been described as a ‘normal Turkish Melbourne girl’, but then in November she flew to Syria without her parents’ knowledge.
Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop described reports Australian women were heading to Syria to join Islamic State terrorists were 'deeply concerning'.
In that instance, intelligence agencies believed a teenager and her 20-year-old friend had become the first Australian women to go it alone to join Islamic State terrorists in Syria and offer themselves as potential jihadi brides.
Morning news break – December 29
