ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Canada has decided to help return 19 of its citizens who are being held in northeast Syria (Rojava) for alleged links to the Islamic State (ISIS), said their lawyer on Thursday. Lawrence Greenspon, the lawyer of six Canadian women and 13 children, was cited by Canadian media on Thursday as saying that Ottawa has agreed to help repatriate these people from Rojava camps following a “mutually acceptable” agreement. The details of the deal between the government and the lawyer have not been revealed due to security reasons, said Greenspon who added that the fate of the pending returnees remains unclear. Canada detained two women in October after repatriating them from Rojava. One of the women, Oumaima Chouay, was arrested upon her arrival at the Montreal-Trudeau airport and handed several terrorism-related charges, with the charges including "participation in activity of terrorist group" and "leaving Canada to participate in activity of terrorist group." The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested thousands of ISIS fighters along with their wives and children when they took control of the group's last stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Many of these people were taken to al-Hol and Roj camps. The notorious al-Hol camp in Hasaka province, the larger of the two, houses over 50,000 people. The camp also witnesses regular crimes and killings at the hands of ISIS cells roaming in the facility and is labelled as a "ticking time bomb" by authorities, who describe the situation in the camp as "very dangerous." Kurdish officials have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their nationals but only a few have responded positively.
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