Two Toronto-area women have been granted bail under strict conditions after being repatriated last week from the Al-Hoj camp, an open-air prison in northeast Syria where some wives and widows of ISIS fighters are detained.
Ammara Amjad and Dure Ahmed have not been charged, but the Crown is seeking to put the mothers on terrorism peace bonds as a means of monitoring them. The hearings for the peace bonds have yet to be scheduled.
The women were arrested by RCMP at the Montreal airport on April 6, as soon as their flight landed.
After spending five nights in an Ontario jail, Amjad and Ahmed appeared in separate bail hearings at the Brampton, Ont., courthouse on Tuesday. They appeared in person wearing black hijabs and face masks. Members of their family were in the court.
The judges in both cases granted publication bans on the evidence presented during the bail proceedings, despite arguments from the Crown to disclose more details. The bans will be lifted when the terrorist peace bond proceedings begin.
'LENGTHY ROAD AHEAD'
Amjad’s father and brother are her sureties and each posted a bond of $15,000. In Ahmed’s case a bond of $25,000 was posted, an amount divided among three sureties: her mother and two brothers.
Both defendants face similar bail conditions likened to house arrest and will stay with their parents. They will have to wear GPS ankle monitors and their access to cellphones and computers will be limited. Both women are prohibited from using social media, and can only log on the internet under supervision to access essential services such as education and health care. They can’t operate a vehicle and must surrender their passports. Amjad and Ahmed must also attend de-radicalization counselling.
Ahmed’s lawyer, Yoav Niv, said his client is relieved to be out on bail.
“We secured a contested publication ban and obtained a consent release for this individual. We anticipate a lengthy road ahead, notwithstanding the significant legal process that allowed her to be voluntarily returned to Canada.”
OTHERS REPATRIATED
Amjad and Ahmed were among four women and 10 children transported out of the region by a U.S. military plane last Thursday. They had spent at least four years in detention camps operated by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces.
An Edmonton woman who was also repatriated was released on bail last Friday. There is a publication ban on her name as she waits for her terrorism peace bond hearing.
Two other Alberta women and three children were scheduled to be on the repatriation plane that left Syria last week, but did not show up for the flight. Global Affairs Canada has not provided an update since CTV News first inquired about their whereabouts six days ago.
THOUSANDS IN DETENTION CAMPS
The U.S. State Department says approximately 10,000 foreign nationals from 60 different countries remain in the camps. Most of them are women and children. Another 10,000 men, who are suspected ISIS fighters, are being held in prisons.
Since 2021, seven women have been repatriated from detention camps in Syria. So far only one woman from Montreal has been charged with terrorism related offences, while the Crown has sought to place peace bonds on five others.
