Jack Letts spent seven and a half years in a legal black hole. Detained without charge in a secret prison in northeastern Syria, he is accused of being a member of the Islamic State armed group, but has never been tried or convicted. His parents, John Letts and Sally Lane, fought tirelessly to bring him home.
This text is a translation of an article from CTV News.
Born in the United Kingdom, John Letts has Canadian citizenship thanks to his father. Every day, John Letts feels guilty for his son’s fate.
“I had a good night’s sleep in a reasonably warm bed. Jack is lying on a cement floor in pain. I eat breakfast, but he doesn’t. I take a hot shower. I feel guilty,” he told W5. “How do I live with this constantly throughout the day? We can’t live with that.”
Who is Jack Letts?
Jack Letts was born in Oxford, England. His parents say he was a popular kid who loved theater, music and sports. His personality changed dramatically when he turned 14 and was diagnosed with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. Jack became fixated on Islam and converted at 16. Two years later, in 2014, he traveled to Syria, attracted, according to his parents, by the pro-democracy protests against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
“I really think he felt like if he didn’t go and help – his OCD required him to go to be a good Muslim – then he was going to hell,” John said. Letts.
Captured by Kurdish forces in 2017, he was fleeing ISIS after being targeted for speaking out against the group.
“If you are caught trying to escape, they kill you,” the father said. “Whether you went in there thinking it was a utopia and you were deceived, as many have been, once you’re inside and you want to escape, how do you get out?”
“ISIS has done absolutely horrible things,” added mother Sally Lane. “But not everyone who went to Syria was a member and did horrible things.”
When news broke that a British-Canadian teenager from Oxford had traveled to Syria in 2016, British tabloids dubbed him Jihadi Jackwith a photo of him in ISIS territory where he appears to be giving the so-called ISIS salute. His parents point out that he made a similar gesture long before going to Syria.
In a BBC prison interview in 2019, John Letts said he considered carrying out a suicide attack, but then denounced the group’s ideology as anti-Muslim.
“I just want people to have an open mind,” said Sally Lane. “They can ask as many questions as they want. What did he do? What didn’t he do? These are the same questions I ask myself. I want to know.”
Canada’s role
The United Kingdom stripped Jack Letts of his British citizenship in 2019, leaving Canada as his only potential recourse. However, public opinion and politicians have shown little appetite for intervention.
His mother, Sally Lane, has organized protests, hunger strikes and petitions, hoping to persuade Canada to repatriate her son, even if it means putting him on trial.
“I would be perfectly happy for him to be tried in Canada. It’s not like there isn’t a procedure for this. I find it ironic that families are calling for trials, not governments.”
-Sally Lane, mother of Jack Letts
“Where is the evidence? Bring them. Put him on trial,” the father also expressed. “How can you convict someone without even having a trial?”
The numbers
Jack Letts is one of at least nine Canadians among 10,000 suspected ISIS members held in 29 makeshift prisons in northeast Syria. Most detainees are foreigners who cannot defend themselves against the allegations due to the lack of a legal system.
The prisons are controlled by US-backed Kurdish forces, which recaptured northeast Syria from ISIS in 2019. Amnesty International and the United Nations have denounced detention conditions as arbitrary with evidence of torture.
Ilham Ahmed, a senior Kurdish official, has repeatedly called on nations to repatriate their citizens.
“It is imperative that these people be repatriated. Their presence here is illegal and they have no rights under our laws,” she admitted to W5.
Despite these calls, Canada has not reacted. Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly declined repeated requests for an interview. “When you decide to join ISIS and leave the country […]you bear responsibility for your decision,” she responded during an event in Toronto.
Me Tayab Ali, Jack Letts’ lawyer, never had access to his client. He says Canada’s policy goes against the concept of innocence until proven guilty. “When do our values allow us to say […] I will […] keep them in detention indefinitely without proof because I believe this person committed a crime. Isn’t that the system we created?” he said.
A threat to global security
The United States repatriated the 27 male American detainees, 10 of whom were charged upon their return. U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have urged other countries to do the same, warning of the risks posed by leaving detainees in a politically unstable region.
“Ten thousand ISIS fighters remain detained, representing the largest concentration of terrorists in the world,” said Ian Moss of the US Office of Counterterrorism. “If they escape, they will pose a threat not only to northeast Syria, but also to our countries.”
ISIS sleeper cells are increasingly active in Syria and continually attempt to bring out detainees to form what would be a ready-made ISIS army. During a nine-day siege in 2022, 400 inmates escaped in a sophisticated ISIS prison break.
The courts rule
In 2023, Canada seems forced to act. A Federal Court judge has ruled that Canadian men detained in Syria have the right to return there. “Notably [le gouvernement] does not allege that either plaintiff participated in or assisted in terrorist activities,” Judge Henry Brown wrote in his decision.
For Sally and John, it was a rare moment of hope.
“We were overjoyed. I had messages from all over the world saying it was fantastic,” Sally recalled. “We were delighted. Jack is coming home.”
But the government appealed and won. The Court of Appeal judge ruled that Canada was not legally required to repatriate its citizens, but added that this decision did not prevent the government from making efforts of its own. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
Canada’s contradictory policy
Canada repatriated six women and 25 children from Syrian detention camps, some of whom were charged or placed on condition of not disturbing the peace upon their return. Sally Lane wonders why men are treated differently.
“Why is the Canadian government denying the men a fair trial? The women have returned. Some of them have been charged. Others were not,” she said.
The repatriation of women has also been the subject of controversy, with calls for a federal investigation after a Canadian mother, who was denied repatriation over security concerns, died mysteriously in Turkey. His six children are now in Canada.
The parents’ struggle
Sally Lane lives in Ottawa and continues to advocate for her son’s repatriation. She has not had contact with Jack in years and has no proof that he is still alive.
“I know three European families who learned more than a year later that their loved one had died [en prison]“, she clarified. “It scares me, that you could think he’s alive and he’s not.”
John Letts argued that the fight consumed their lives.
“Until I die, I will try to get my son out. What else can be done? We can’t stop because that’s what a parent should do,” he concluded.
-A text by Avery Haines for W5 CTV News-
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