Canadians accused of joining ISIS moved out of Syria to prisons in Iraq – National TenX News

Suspected ISIS members from dozens of countries including Canada have been moved out of Syria to prisons in Iraq, an official confirmed on Friday.

Iraq’s judiciary announced that more than 5,700 detainees had been transferred into its custody and that they were citizens of 61 countries, including Canada.

While more than half are Syrians, the National Center for International Judicial Cooperation listed Canada among the “most prominent foreign nationalities.”

The others included citizens of Germany, Russia, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, South Africa, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The statement did not specify how many Canadians were sent to Iraq, nor identify them by name. Global Affairs Canada said only that it was monitoring the situation.

But Global News has identified at least five Canadian men who were being held in Syria prior to the transfer, including a self-admitted ISIS sniper from Mississauga, Ont.

Dozens of extremists left Canada to join ISIS. While most were killed, Kurdish fighters took several into custody during the final stages of the conflict in 2019.

The federal government flew the women and children back to Canada in 2022 and 2023, but left the men in the custody of the Kurdish forces.

They were detained in makeshift prisons in northeast Syria, a region that was controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

But last month, the United States began moving the detainees to Iraq as Syrian government forces and jihadist groups began pushing into Kurdish-held areas.

The transfer wound down on Thursday, with almost 6,000 ISIS suspects having been transported across the border to prisons in Iraq.

The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council has said they would be investigated and put on trial in Iraq.

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The council said in a statement that it had jurisdiction over all the detainees, “regardless of their nationality or position” in ISIS.

But Iraq also urged other countries to do their part and said it was unacceptable that some countries refused to repatriate their citizens.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged “countries to take responsibility and repatriate their citizens in these facilities to face justice.”

The Canadians captured in Syria included Muhammad Ali, who joined ISIS in 2014 and used social media to incite terrorist attacks in Canada.

In an interview with Global News after he was captured in 2018, the Mississauga, Ont. resident admitted he was part of an ISIS sniper team.

Also held by the Kurds were residents of Edmonton, Windsor and Montreal, as well as Jack Letts, a Briton who has never lived in Canada but obtained citizenship through his father.

A sixth Canadian, Mohammed Khalifa, was taken out of Syria by the United States and flown to Washington, D.C., in 2021 to face trial for terrorism.

The Toronto resident was sentenced to life for making ISIS propaganda videos in which he was shown executing prisoners with a handgun.

Iraq has already put tens of thousands of suspected ISIS members through prosecutions that have been criticized by human rights groups.

Human Rights Watch said the trials relied on confessions, despite torture allegations, and courts paid little heed to each suspect’s role in ISIS.

“Iraq is known for highly expedited proceedings where defendants often had limited or no access to legal counsel, evidence was rarely scrutinized in depth, and verdicts were delivered immediately,” said Queen’s University professor Amarnath Amarasingam. “This has resulted in long prison sentences and even the death penalty.”

“Researchers have warned for years that this may happen eventually if countries didn’t repatriate their citizens from these camps and prisons,” said Amarasingam, a terrorism expert who has studied Canadian ISIS members.

“By leaving Iraq to absorb the legal burden alone, states have outsourced justice to an overwhelmed system. There are now serious concerns about due process and wrongful convictions.”

Asked by Global News about the issue last month, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand did not confirm that Canadians were among those sent to Iraq.

“We are examining the situation and we are in touch with our consular officials at every step of the way,” she said in Ottawa.

Global Affairs Canada similarly would not share any details on Thursday, saying it would not comment for “privacy and security reasons.”

“The safety and security of Canadians always remain the utmost priority for the government of Canada while meeting necessary legal obligations.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

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