Parents of Canadian held in Syria urge Ottawa to act as prisoners are sent to Iraq

OTTAWA – The mother of a Canadian man detained in Syria says he risks going from “one legal black hole into another” as prisoners in the strife-torn country are transferred to Iraq.

Sally Lane has been calling on Ottawa for years to facilitate the release of her son Jack Letts from a Syrian prison.

Letts is among the foreign nationals held in ramshackle detention centres long run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-ravaged area from the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The decision to move prisoners to Iraq came after a request by officials in Baghdad that was welcomed by the U.S.-led coalition and the Syrian government, officials said Thursday.

American and Iraqi officials told The Associated Press about the Iraqi request, a day after the U.S. military said it had started transferring some of the 9,000 detainees held in more than a dozen detention centres in northeastern Syria.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement Wednesday that the first transfer involved 150 prisoners who were taken from the Syrian province of Hassakeh to “secure locations” in Iraq. As many as 7,000 detainees could be transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities, the statement added.

Letts became a devout Muslim, went on holiday to Jordan at age 18, then studied in Kuwait before winding up in Syria. His family says he was captured by Kurdish forces while fleeing the country with a group of refugees in 2017.

Letts’ parents have said they are aware of no evidence their son became a terrorist fighter, adding that Jack stood against ISIL and was even put on trial for publicly condemning the group.

Some Canadian women and children have been repatriated from Syria in recent years with help from Canadian officials and the co-operation of Kurdish authorities.

Ottawa has declined to help repatriate Canadian men.

The Federal Court of Appeal ruled that Ottawa was not obligated under the law to repatriate Letts and three other Canadian men. The Supreme Court of Canada declined in 2024 to hear an appeal of the ruling.

The Canadian Press has asked Global Affairs Canada about steps Ottawa might take in response to the latest developments in Syria.

Amnesty International has warned of serious rights violations and poor conditions in Iraq, including overcrowded and unsanitary prisons, unfair trials and mass executions.

In a statement issued Thursday by the group Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, Lane accused the Canadian government of “complete abandonment of our loved ones.”

She said Canada could open the door to her son’s release by making a request to his jailers and providing the necessary travel documents.

John Letts, Jack’s father, said in the statement that when it comes to Muslim Canadians, the federal government has not only looked away, it has actively fought the efforts of families.

“Unless they act in the coming days, will our families be condemned to another decade of this torturous black hole?” he asked.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2026.

— With files from The Associated Press