The men are among tens of thousands of foreign nationals held by Kurdish authorities for allegedly having ties to the Islamic State. They continue to languish in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria, more than three years after U.S.-backed Kurdish forces declared military victory over the extremist group. The prisons and camps where alleged former Islamic State fighters, their wives and children have been held are overcrowded and unsanitary, and plagued by violence and disease. Rights groups say the conditions are life-threatening.
Kurdish authorities and detainees’ relatives have implored governments to accept their citizens back. Citing security concerns, many countries have dragged their feet — or in some cases, revoked detainees’ citizenship.
Since 2019, 36 countries have repatriated at least some of their nationals from northeast Syria, according to Letta Tayler, associate director in the crisis and conflict division of Human Rights Watch. Canada brought home its first returnee — a 5-year-old orphan — in October 2020. Ottawa has since repatriated at least five more, but more than 40 Canadian nationals remain in detention in Syria.
Courts in Germany and the Netherlands have ordered governments to repatriate women and children. But the Canadian ruling Friday is “potentially groundbreaking,” Tayler said.
“This is the first court case that I am aware of in which a court has ruled — and robustly — in favor of repatriations of men,” she said. “This is a major crack in the wall of resistance by countries that prefer to outsource responsibility for their nationals to a nonstate actor inside a war zone.”
In the case, family members of 23 detained Canadians argued the government’s refusal to facilitate their relatives’ return violated Canada’s constitution.
The court order comes after Canadian authorities reached a deal Thursday to repatriate six women and 13 children who were part of the case, Lawrence Greenspon, a lawyer representing the families, said. The government had previously sent letters to the women informing them that they and their children may be eligible for assistance based on the worsening environments in Al-Hol and Roj, the open-air camps where women and children are being held.
The identities of most of the detainees and their relatives have been kept under wraps due to the sensitivity of the case. Greenspon said the family members he is representing are “overjoyed” at the agreement and ruling.
The court judgment “reaffirms the principle that if a Canadian has their constitutional rights being violated, no matter where they are in the world, and the Canadian government has the ability to do something about it, then they should,” Greenspon said.
In his decision, Brown cited “dire” prison conditions and the fact that the men have not been charged or brought to trial.
The men are being held in prisons separate from the women and children. One appears to have been crammed with as many as 30 other men in a cell built for six and alleged he had been tortured, Brown wrote. There is “overwhelming evidence” that the male prisoners lack sufficient food and medical attention, he added.
Life in the detention centers grew more dangerous in recent months after Turkey began a bombing campaign on Kurdish-controlled areas in Syria.
Greenspon said only one of the men has been in contact recently. “With respect to the other three, we don’t have even proof of life that’s recent,” he said. “We’re hopeful that it’s not too late to repatriate them.”
Among the men is Jack Letts, who was born and raised in England and traveled to Syria in 2014 at age 18. He allegedly joined the Islamic State and became known as “Jihadi Jack” in British media. Kurdish forces confirmed his capture in 2017.
His Canadian father, John Letts, and British mother, Sally Lane, say he is innocent. A British court convicted both in June of funding terrorism by sending money to their son to help him escape from Syria.
Lane and John Letts have waged a well-publicized campaign in the United Kingdom and Canada to extract their son from Syria. But in 2019, the British government revoked his citizenship, leaving him with only Canadian nationality.
Canadian officials accused Britain of passing the buck. Conservatives, fighting a tough election campaign that year, said they would refuse to help Letts. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau largely dodged the question, though he promised to prosecute people who participated in terrorist activities.
Shortly after Trudeau was elected in 2015, his Liberal Party repealed a law passed by Conservatives that allowed the government to strip the citizenship of dual nationals convicted of terrorism-related offenses in Canadian courts.
“A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian,” he had said during his campaign. “And you devalue the citizenship of every Canadian in this place and in this country when you break down and make it conditional for everyone.”
But his government has stalled on repatriating its citizens stuck in northeast Syria.
“We are over the moon at this news, which means we will finally get to see our son again after 9 long years,” Lane wrote in a text message after the ruling. “The judge recognized the appalling way the Canadian [government] has behaved over the treatment of its citizens and made the decision on human rights grounds. He has said repatriation needs to happen ‘as soon as possible’ so we will be holding the government to this.”
Some officials and legal experts worry authorities might not be able to detain returnees, and that they could radicalize others or carry out attacks in Canada.
Rights groups argue Canada’s law enforcement and judicial system is well equipped to keep tabs on returnees and prosecute adults.
For the detainees in this case, much depends on the government’s speed in issuing identity documents and working out travel logistics, Tayler said. Canada could seek help from the United States, which has stepped up efforts in recent months to persuade and assist other countries to repatriate their nationals, she added.
“We take note of the Federal Court’s decision,” Grantly Franklin, spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said in a statement Saturday. “We are currently reviewing the decision and will have more to say in due course. The safety and security of Canadians is our government’s top priority. We remain committed to taking a robust approach to this issue.”
Amanda Coletta and Louisa Loveluck contributed to this report.
*This story has not been edited by The Infallible staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.
