‘We’re terrified,’ say parents of alleged ISIL recruit
Fear invasion of Syria a death sentence for son
The parents of Canadian citizen Jack Letts say the Turkish invasion of northeast Syria could well be a death sentence for the alleged ISIL sympathizer, and are urging Ottawa to rescue their son before it’s too late.
Letts could fall victim to hard-core ISIL members, Syrian regime troops or even British special forces reported to be hunting down escaped terror suspects, John Letts and Sally Lane suggest in emails to the National Post and Global Affairs Canada.
One unconfirmed report indicated the prison where he has been held came under Turkish artillery fire in recent days.
The couple are again pleading with Canada to intervene and bring Letts here, but the government has said there is little it can do in a region now engulfed by war.
“We’re terrified by what is happening,” John Letts said in an email response to questions. “The West (including Canada) are effectively handing Jack and the other detainees back to ISIS, when the Canadians could simply ask the Americans or the British to take him into custody … Perhaps this is the Uk-canadian way of dealing with the detainees — let those who are not fanatic be killed by ISIS so that the West doesn’t have to deal with them.”
The father has said previously he believes his son is innocent, but would be willing to see him prosecuted and jailed here if found to have committed crimes overseas.
Ankara moved into northeastern Syria last week, aiming to strike a blow against Syrian Kurdish forces it says are linked with terrorists inside Turkey. The invasion, launched after President Donald Trump agreed to pull U.S. troops from the area, has touched off a dramatic cascade of events, the Kurds striking a desperate accord with Syria’s Assad regime, and Assad’s Russian allies also intervening.
Dubbed “Jihadi Jack” by British news media, Letts is a Muslim convert who grew up in England and travelled to the Middle East in 2014, eventually winding up in Isil-controlled Iraq and then in Raqqa, the Syrian city that became the group’s de-facto capital.
He was captured by Syrian Kurdish forces after escaping Raqqa and has been held by them since. Though he once talked online about committing violent acts against British troops, Letts said he never did anything of the sort and grew strongly disenchanted with the extremist organization.
Even so, the UK revoked his British citizenship in August. Like his father, who was born and raised in Canada, his mother, who spent much of her childhood here, and his brother, Letts was a joint Uk-canadian citizen. Now the 23-year-old holds only Canadian nationality.
The parents have pressed Global Affairs Canada in recent days to help the prisoner.
That aid, however, appears to be an unlikely prospect. When the National Post asked Global Affairs for comment Tuesday, a spokesman for the public safety minister’s office responded, saying “there is no legal obligation to facilitate” the return of any Canadians detained in Syria.
The spokesman added that finding and prosecuting Canadians involved in violent extremism is the department’s top priority, and that anyone who left Canada to join ISIL “must be held accountable and bear the consequences of their actions.”
Global Affairs said in an email to the family that it had asked Turkey to handle any Canadians it detains according to international law, and had sought information from Kurdish forces about the status of Canadian prisoners.
But the department said its ability to provide consular assistance in the region is “extremely limited,” a stance it began taking months before the recent fighting.
In the midst of a federal election, the issue of Canadians in Syria is also politically dicey. Andrew Scheer, the Conservative leader, has taken a strong stance against repatriating alleged ISIL members from Canada, and said he would not “lift a finger” to bring Letts to this country.
John Letts said he fears that if inmates end up escaping jails like the one that holds Letts in Qamishli, ISIL itself could take revenge against his son for rebelling against the group.
Lane said in an email to Global Affairs she is afraid of Syrian forces assuming control over the same jails.
“Everyone knows how Assad treats prisoners — tortures and kills them & gouges their eyes out,” she wrote. “Jack is innocent of any crime, was not a fighter in Syria, opposed (ISIL) and is being held without charge or trial. We need him to be rescued by the Canadian government.”