Islamic State Foreign Collaborators
"What is inevitable is that the government will continue to create obstacles ... they will continue to delay.""They'll continue to create secret frameworks without notice, and then change their position at the last minute. That's what's inevitable.""Yes, it's complicated. And yes, it's difficult. And yes, it's challenging. And yes, there are logistical [challenges].""But what we're talking about here is the life and liberty of 23 Canadian men, women and children.""There is no reason why these constitutional violations need to continue. Canada has the consent [to bring citizens home].""They have the ability. They've done it already without incident."Lawrence Greenspon, lawyer representing ISIL detainees, Al Hol Camp, Syria
The
camp where foreigners are kept by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces
is a squalid, miserable place filled with women and children living
squalid miserable lives behind barbed wire. Some of those incarcerated
are hard-core Islamist members of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, and
some are not of that ilk entirely. It is the hard-core Islamists that
virtually govern the interior of the camp and those who fail to
subscribe to their version of Islam are known to have been murdered,
while all others live in fear.
The
camps housing the ISIL male members are also densely crowded and
squalid, miserable places to spend hours, days, months, years. So it is
helpful to remember that these men did not hesitate to brutalize and
murder thousands of Iraqis and Syrians, along with Yazidis who faced a
genocidal effort on the part of ISIL jihadis who slaughtered Yazidi men,
and took women and children into slavery, many of whom have never been
returned.
Islamic
State favoured producing shocking videos of captured British and
American journalists and humanitarian care workers whom they filmed
being hanged, set on fire in cages, crucified and most horribly
photographic of all complete with mocking commentary, beheaded. The
grislier the mode of death, the more viral their reputation as vendors
of lethal terror, a bleak, dark celebrity they valued hugely. Their
reputation as conscienceless purveyors of torture and death made them
invincible.
Military
opposition melted away as they advanced to occupy greater swaths of
territory in Iraq and Syria, expanding their 'caliphate', spreading
terror and subduing a cringing populace the military tasked to defend
the citizens had abandoned. These are the prisoners that Kurdish defence
forces rounded up and incarcerated to help make the world a safer, more
sane place. Kurdish defense forces, unlike the two countries' formal
military forces were fearless in combating the ISIL militias and
protecting the minority groups they terrorized.
Now,
the Federal Court of Canada is hearing arguments for Canada to rise to
its international obligations to repatriate Canadian citizens who chose
to join this odious group of murdering Islamists. Their family members
in Canada have spearheaded a drive to have 23 Canadians returned to
Canada, citing the violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by
ignoring their plight abroad as prisoners. Canada is held to have
breached its international obligations according to a United Nations
special rapporteur by not repatriating these extremist fanatics.
Two
ISIL-linked women and their children have previously been brought back
to Canada, both women immediately arrested, one now free on bail
conditions. As for other countries, France has absorbed 58 of its ISIL
members, Australia 17 nationals, Germany a dozen, Netherlands, 40,
Russia 38 and Britain two. Family members of these ISIL prisoners are
looking for a declaration that the government's lack of action is
unreasonable; they seek a formal repatriation of the detainees,
emergency travel documents and authorization of a Canadian
representative to accompany them on their return to Canada.
Labels: Al Hol Camp for Women and Children, Canada, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Islamic State Prisons, Kurdish Forces, Syria, Syrian Democratic Forces
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