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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Ariel Bogle and Nino Bucci

Australian children are being arrested under laws to ‘disrupt’ extremism: ‘On balance this is a bad law’

Illustration of a child sitting in front of dozens of screens
Experts say laws that criminalise children as young as 10 for the possession of material openly available on the internet are flawed. Illustration: Nash Weerasekera/The Guardian

When Sara* was 14, a family member found disturbing videos on her phone and reported them to police. Counter-terror detectives came and seized the device, as well as her school laptop.

When she was interviewed by police, Sara was forthcoming. She had developed an interest in Nasheeds – chants often based on Islamic beliefs. She had started to search for information about wars and caliphates. She told police she had no intention of hurting anyone.

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