ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Canadian police on Wednesday said they had arrested a woman upon her return to the country after five years in the custody of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for suspected ties to the Islamic State (ISIS).
Oumaima Chouay, 27, was arrested upon her arrival at the Montreal-Trudeau airport the night before and handed several terrorism-related charges, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said, with the charges including "participation in activity of terrorist group" and "leaving Canada to participate in activity of terrorist group."
Chouay left Canada to join ISIS in Syria in 2014 but was captured by the SDF in 2017 as the terror group began losing territory across swathes of Syria, dealing a major blow to their attempts of establishing a so-called caliphate.
Another woman was also arrested after arriving at Montreal airport on Wednesday morning, according to Canadian broadcaster CBC News.
Canadian police arrested Kimberly Polman, 50, upon her return to the country but did not lay charges, her lawyer said, adding that authorities are seeking a peace bond.
Her lawyer Lawrence Greenspon argued that Canadian authorities "do not have the same kind of evidence" against Polman as they do Chouay.
Polman traveled to Syria in 2015 to marry an ISIS fighter after meeting him online. She was captured by the SDF and held in Roj camp in northeast Syria (Rojava).
Among the women, two children were also repatriated by Canada, the foreign ministry said while thanking the Kurdish administration in Rojava for their cooperation and praising them for "providing care for the detained individuals under an extremely difficult security situation and adverse circumstances."
The 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 around 56,000, according to UN figures. The camps also witness regular crimes and killings at the hands of ISIS cells roaming in the facility and is labeled as a "ticking time bomb" by authorities, who describe the situation in the camp as "very dangerous."
Officials have repeatedly warned of ISIS indoctrination in the squalid camp and called on the international community to repatriate its nationals from the facility, but only a few countries have responded positively as most as worried about security concerns.
Oumaima Chouay, 27, was arrested upon her arrival at the Montreal-Trudeau airport the night before and handed several terrorism-related charges, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said, with the charges including "participation in activity of terrorist group" and "leaving Canada to participate in activity of terrorist group."
Chouay left Canada to join ISIS in Syria in 2014 but was captured by the SDF in 2017 as the terror group began losing territory across swathes of Syria, dealing a major blow to their attempts of establishing a so-called caliphate.
Another woman was also arrested after arriving at Montreal airport on Wednesday morning, according to Canadian broadcaster CBC News.
Canadian police arrested Kimberly Polman, 50, upon her return to the country but did not lay charges, her lawyer said, adding that authorities are seeking a peace bond.
Her lawyer Lawrence Greenspon argued that Canadian authorities "do not have the same kind of evidence" against Polman as they do Chouay.
Polman traveled to Syria in 2015 to marry an ISIS fighter after meeting him online. She was captured by the SDF and held in Roj camp in northeast Syria (Rojava).
Among the women, two children were also repatriated by Canada, the foreign ministry said while thanking the Kurdish administration in Rojava for their cooperation and praising them for "providing care for the detained individuals under an extremely difficult security situation and adverse circumstances."
The 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 around 56,000, according to UN figures. The camps also witness regular crimes and killings at the hands of ISIS cells roaming in the facility and is labeled as a "ticking time bomb" by authorities, who describe the situation in the camp as "very dangerous."
Officials have repeatedly warned of ISIS indoctrination in the squalid camp and called on the international community to repatriate its nationals from the facility, but only a few countries have responded positively as most as worried about security concerns.
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