19 Canadians on way home from camps in NE Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – At least 19 Canadian women and children who were held in camps for Islamic State (ISIS) by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria, are on their way home.
The CBC reported, citing Ottawa lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, that six Canadian women and 13 children, who were part of a Federal Court deal to be repatriated, have begun the journey to Canada.
a number of his clients were moved out of Roj camp, northeast Syria, Greenspon added.
Roj is one of several detention camps in northeast Syria that house thousands of people, including many foreign nationals, since the SDF and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS declared the territorial defeat of the terror group in March 2019.
It currently houses 806 families, including 2,800 individuals of Arabs and foreigners, mostly women and children of ISIS members who hail from 62 countries, according to a previous report published by North Press.
“The women have not been charged with any crimes,” according to Greenspon.
Greenspon also represents a Quebec mother and her six children at a camp in northeast Syria, but he said that he is unsure whether they are part of this repatriation effort or not.
On April 2, Canada was set to repatriate six children from Roj camp without their Quebec mother, as the ISIS-linked woman was still undergoing a security assessment.
On the same day, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau said that “Canada is violating its own framework in the case of the Quebec mother.”
“The situation in northeastern Syria is incredibly volatile,” said Trudeau.