OTTAWA, ONTARIO (AP) – A lawyer for two Canadian women who just returned from Syria said on Thursday they were arrested by federal police.
Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said the women had not been charged criminally, but the prosecution was seeking terrorist peace bonds that would place strict conditions on them.
The two were among four Canadian women and 10 children who arrived in Montreal after being freed from prison camps in north-eastern Syria.
There are many foreign nationals in Syrian camps run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-ravaged region from the extremist Islamic State (IS) group.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had no immediate comment on Thursday.
Under a terrorism peace bond, a judge can order a person to enter into an arrangement to be of good behaviour or possibly face a prison sentence. Conditions such as a curfew or prohibition on having weapons might be attached.
Greenspon reached an agreement with Canada’s government in January to repatriate six Canadian women and 13 children who had been part of a court action.
However, two mothers and three children were not at a designated meeting point and missed the flight, Greenspon said on Thursday. “They weren’t able to find them,” he said.
He said he expected Global Affairs Canada would try to locate the five people and return them to Canada as well.
A federal judge recently directed the government to also secure the release of four Canadian men from detention in north-eastern Syria. The government has appealed that ruling.
“Repatriation is the only durable solution for this population, most of whom are vulnerable children under the age of 12,” Patel said.
