Canada police arrest 2 women repatriated from Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Canadian police arrested two women repatriated from Syria’s northeast one of whom charged with four terrorism-related offences, including working for Islamic State Organization (ISIS).
Reuters said, in a report, citing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Quebec, that one of the repatriated women Oumaima Chouay, 27, was arrested at the Montreal-Trudeau airport on Tuesday night.
Reuters said, citing the police, that Chouay left Canada in 2014 and was suspected of working for the ISIS before Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested her in 2017.
While the other, Kimberly Polman, 50, arrived in Montreal Wednesday morning and was also arrested, according to her lawyer.
Polman was not facing any criminal charges, her lawyer added.
On October 25, Canada’s Ministry of Global Affairs repatriated four nationals, including two women and two children of the ISIS family members from camps in northeastern Syria.
This took place in a visit by an official Canadian delegation to northeast Syria that was received by officials of Foreign Affairs Department in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
Canada’s foreign ministry thanked the AANES for its cooperation and the US for assisting in the operation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said “traveling for the purpose of supporting terrorism” was a crime and anyone who traveled for such a purpose should face criminal charges.
ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria in March 2019. The SDF, with the support of the US-led Global Coalition, defeated ISIS after fierce battles in the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, bringing an end to the so-called caliphate declared by the terrorist ISIS.
After Baghouz, thousands of ISIS fighters were transferred to prisons, while their families were transferred to Hawl and Roj camps in the AANES-held areas.
Issue of the family members of the ISIS held in camps in northeast Syria constitutes an ongoing challenge for the non-internationally recognized AANES, which repeatedly demands that the concerned countries repatriate their nationals.
Also, the AANES continues to call on the international powers to provide support for establishing rehabilitation centers and help in tackling the security situation in the facilities were ISIS foreign nationals are held.
Despite many calls, the majority of countries, including those participating in the Global coalition, refuse to repatriate their nationals