Urgent Call for Independent Investigation into the Death of Canadian Citizen FJ
October 24, 2024
The Honourable Mélanie Joly
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Re: Urgent Call for Independent Investigation into the Death of Canadian Citizen FJ
We are writing this urgent letter to you in our capacity as members of the civil society humanitarian delegation that travelled to NE Syria in August 2023, to interview Canadian women, children and men who have been held for years without charge or trial in detention camps and prisons.
We previously wrote to you on September 25, 2023 and February 6, 2024, sharing our findings and concerns, and laying out recommendations for government action. We have yet to receive a response to either of those letters.
While we were in NE Syria we met with Canadian citizen FJ, along with her six minor children, XX, XX, XX, XX, XX and XX. At the time of our meeting the children ranged from five to fourteen years of age. We are writing at this time because we have been informed that FJ died in detention in Turkey last week, sometime during the night of October 16-17, 2024. The circumstances leading up to and surrounding her death give rise to a number of troubling questions.
We are therefore calling on the Canadian government to take immediate steps to launch an independent, impartial investigation into the death of FJ, by someone with appropriate expertise to fully interrogate the circumstances of her confinement and death.
When we met with FJ in August 2023 in the Al-Roj Camp, she told us that she had been informed by Canadian officials that while her children were eligible for consular support and repatriation to Canada, she was not. She was apparently advised that this was because her views were considered to be too radical to allow her to be returned to Canada. She was essentially being forced to choose between maintaining her close and sustaining relationship with her children or sending them, alone, to Canada.
If she had taken that step she had no assurance as to when, if ever, she would be reunited with her children. At the time we pressed the government to ensure the family would be kept together and repatriated to Canada as a family unit. FJ had made it clear to us that she was prepared to answer any allegations levelled against her through a fair legal process in Canada.
We now understand that several months ago, likely out of desperation, FJ escaped from Al-Roj, leaving her children behind. Canadian officials did take fairly swift steps to then facilitate the repatriation of the children to Canada. They are now in foster care in XX.
We understand that FJ then crossed from Syria into Turkey in March. She was apprehended and imprisoned by Turkish authorities three months later, on June 14th. Details as to what happened after that, leading to her death in detention last week, are unclear, but we have received information that raises concerns and questions.
As she was no longer in NE Syria, FJ’s rights were no longer constrained by your government’s deeply problematic Policy Framework of “Extraordinary Assistance” for Consular Cases in North-Eastern Syria. We have been told that she had at least two consular visits, on July 16th and October 1st, in the Tarsus Closed Women’s Prison, an institution located some five hours from Ankara. We have also been told that she may have had one or two visits from RCMP officers who interviewed her in the prison. We have also been informed that RCMP officers may have interviewed her earlier at Al-Roj.
We have been told that after one of those visits with either consular officials or the RCMP, her mood and demeanor changed markedly, and that she became seriously depressed and psychologically distressed. She told others that she had been informed that she would never again see her children and that she was going to be sent to face trial in the United States.
We understand that on October 15, there was a hearing regarding the criminal charges of membership in an armed terrorist group that had been leveled against her. We are told that she was acquitted at that time of the charges in a ruling by a panel of three judges. We also understand that she was then transferred to an immigration holding centre, assumedly to await deportation.
We are advised that FJ apparently was having difficulty sleeping and was being provided with a sedative or other medication to help with that problem; and, that early on the morning of October 17th, her lifeless body was discovered. We are told that it was her lawyer in Turkey who found her body and realized that she was dead. We are also told that your government did not learn of her death from Turkish officials but instead heard the news from a Canadian advocate who has been working closely with the families of Canadians detained in NE Syria.
We have been told that Turkish officials have concluded that the cause of death was a heart attack. As far as we know there has not been an autopsy. People who had been able to visit with FJ while in detention have said that there was no indication that she was in poor health. The only health condition we are aware of is that in Turkey she did receive surgery for anal fissures, a condition that had been of major concern while she was held in Al-Roj. She had raised that condition when we met her in August of 2023 and stressed that she was not receiving adequate medical attention. To our knowledge she had no previous cardiac problems. FJ was only 40 years old.
This is, clearly a very tragic outcome, both with respect to FJ’s death and the grave impact that will no doubt have on her children. When we met with FJ and her children, it was readily apparent to us that they were very close to and reliant upon her. All of that is compounded by the fact that Canada’s refusal to take reasonable steps to maintain this family’s unity and repatriate them to Canada, where they could have had access to the Canadian legal system if necessary, effectively led to this chain of events, including family separation, FJ’s subsequent imprisonment and death in Turkey.
There are a number of pressing questions that require answers:
What was communicated to FJ by Canadian officials while she was detained in Al-Roj Camp regarding options for her and/or her children to be repatriated to Canada?
If Canadian officials offered repatriation for the children but refused it for FJ, what was the legal basis for that and how was that reconcilable with Canada’s binding obligation under international human rights law to ensure the best interests of the children?
How did Canada reconcile the apparent refusal to repatriate FJ, along with her children, with the 2018 RCMP briefing note to the Public Safety Minister (“Canada’s Approach to Terrorism and Violent Extremism) “that declared:
“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees Canadian citizens the right to return to Canada. Therefore, even if a Canadian engaged in terrorist activity abroad, the government of Canada must facilitate their return to Canada.”[1]
What contact did Canadian consular officials have with FJ in Turkey? What information did she convey in those meetings and what assistance or support was offered and provided to her?
What communication did Canadian officials have with Turkish officials about FJ’s situation?
Did RCMP officers interview FJ in detention, in either Al-Roj Camp or in Turkey? If so, when did that occur, what was the basis of those interviews and what was FJ told about her legal situation, including possible criminal charges in Canada or the United States?
Was FJ informed of her right to counsel in any interviews conducted by the RCMP?
Did Canadian consular officials or RCMP officers have any reason to be concerned about FJ’s physical or psychological health or well-being?
Had FJ experienced any health problems in detention in Turkey that may have suggested heart problems and, if so, what medical care or treatment did she receive?
What were the detention conditions in the immigration holding centre to which FJ had been transferred?
Who prescribed and administered FJ’s sleeping medication?
What are the details regarding the discovery of FJ’s body?
What does an independent autopsy confirm to be the cause of FJ’s death? If no autopsy has been conducted, what is the rationale for no such investigation?
That is of course far from an exhaustive list. It is vital that you take immediate steps, particularly while witnesses are accessible and evidence is fresh, to launch an expert, independent and impartial investigation. Such an investigation cannot, in these circumstances, be conducted by either the RCMP or your consular staff. There are many other options that would provide the independence and expertise that is needed. We would welcome the opportunity to identify who might be best placed to conduct such an investigation.
We urge you to move immediately. It is of vital importance for many reasons, most especially because FJ’s six children deserve to know what has happened to their mother.
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
The Honourable Kim Pate, C.M.
Alex Neve, O.C., LLD (Hon.), LLM
Hadayt Nazami
cc. The Honourable Dominic Leblanc, Minister of Public Safety
Pam Damoff and Rob Oliphant, Parliamentary Secretaries to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
[1] This question is of particular concern given the Global News report that a Public Safety memo found that FJ could not be repatriated for fear that there was nothing to charge her with ("In the absence of a charge package or peace bond, F.J. would have freedom of movement upon return to Canada.") See: Canada refused to repatriate woman from ISIS camp because she can’t be arrested: internal memo, April 25, 2024, https://globalnews.ca/news/10445059/canadian-isis-women-syria-repatriation-memo/.
