Syrian group releases two Canadians

Pair ignored warning to avoid going to Syria

A Canadian mother-of-two who was kidnapped by an al-Qaida affiliate after travelling to the Middle East to bring back her children has been freed.

Global Affairs Canada said Jolly Bimbachi, along with fellow Canadian Sean Moore, were on their way home.

Bimbachi and Moore were held by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, a terrorist group in Syria, the BBC reported.

In November, Bimbachi flew to Lebanon to reunite with her young sons — Omar, nine, and sevenyear-old Abdel-Ghaniy — more than two years after her estranged husband took them on a trip to visit family in May 2015 and did not return.

In December, Bimbachi fled from Lebanon north to Syria, hoping to reach neighbouring Turkey and return to Canada — a journey involving three countries under travel advisories by the federal government.

Her father, Ben Bimbachi, said his daughter decided to flee to the north after losing her legal battle to bring her sons home.

Jeff Bultje, a friend of Moore’s from Chatham, Ontario, said Moore was travelling to Lebanon and Jordan to help Bimbachi bring her kids back to Canada.

Somehow the pair ended up in the hands of the extremist group.

The two were fortunate to have made it out of that corner of the world safely, said an international security expert at Western University in London, Ont.

“There are hostage takings everywhere,” said political scientist Erika Simpson. “If you choose to travel in a country that is at war like Syria, you need to recognize that you could be kidnapped or held hostage.”

Global Affairs Canada said Canadians should avoid non-essential travel to Lebanon and exercise caution in Turkey, especially in certain regions.

Ottawa urges Canadians to avoid all travel to Syria.

“Tourists are expected to read that ... and adjust their travel plans accordingly,” said Simpson.

The elder Bimbachi, who had communicated with his daughter on social media, said Syrian officials she encountered treated her well.

“I asked her so many times in different ways, ‘If they were nice with you?’ ” he said.

She told him, “they treat her like one from them.”

Bimbachi said a Syrian officer responsible for his daughter allowed her to stay with his own sisters.

Moore had travelled to war-torn regions several times before last fall’s trip to Lebanon.

In 2015, he went to Iraq to help civilians caught up in the regional conflict with the Islamic State (ISIL).

“He just really wants to help people, he’s got a good heart,” said Bultje, who went with Moore to Iraq.

“He’s not scared of anything, he gets it done.”

If Canadians are taken captive abroad, Simpson said the Canadian government will try to help, but has limited tools — especially in war-torn countries.

The federal government also publicly maintains it won’t ransom money to captors.

“That’s their policy — that they will not promise to pay ransom. Otherwise, that opens the floodgates to encourage people to take people ransom,” said Simpson.

“Sometimes, families are left not knowing what to do.”

The safe return of his two constituents came as a relief to Chatham-area Conservative MP Dave Van Kesteren.

With the help of his longtime friend, Selcuk Ünal, Turkey’s ambassador to Canada, Van Kesteren got involved in the case.

“We were kind of at wit’s end,” he said. “The government was doing everything they could. This was a very difficult situation.”

Van Kesteren said he received a notice from the diplomat Monday morning that Bimbachi was in Turkey.

“We’re all really excited,” he said. “We’re just glad we were able to help.”