Oumaima Chouay
Oumaima Chouay is a a Canadian women who was held for several years in a refugee camp in Syria, after living in the Daesh-controlled region of Syria known as the "Islamic State", prior to its collapse.[1]
The radical Daesh group maintained a quasi-state in enclaves of Syria and Iraq, from approximately 2014 to 2019. During this time thousands of sympathetic foreigners traveled to the Daesh-controlled region. Men who travelled to the region were encouraged to become soldiers. While casualties among these volunteers were very high most of them were religious extremists who believed dying in battle guanranteed them entry into heaven, along with 72 heavenly sex-slaves.
Women who travelled to the region were immediately locked in to barracks, from which fighters would pick them to be their wives. Many teenage women, who made their way to the Daesh-controlled region did so after being recruited by glowing accounts of the freedom to practice their religion, via social media. So, they found it shocking that their cellphones were immediately seized.
Anyone attempting to defect from Daesh was severely punished up to and including torture and brutal public execution. Some women reported they had no idea how brutal the Daesh regime would be, and wanted to immediately turn around and go home, but could not, due to the policy of punishing or executing defectors. Other women acknowledge that they were extremely religious, when they arrived, but lost that extremism due to the regime's bruality, and after losing their husbands in battle, and then finding the regime not fulfilling its promises to support the widows and orphans of fighters. Several women have described how helpless they felt having to watch their children starve to death.
Chouay, and her children, were captured by an independent Kurdish militia in 2017, and were held in the Al Roj refugee camp from 2017 to 2022.[1] Conditions in Al Roj were primitive, and children routinely starved to death there, too. And women who had never been militants, or who had grown disenchanted with militancy, were terrorized by the women who remained dedicated to militant extremism. Aid workers report that non-militant women fear attack from militant women, at night, for criticizing Daesh, or wearing Western clothes.
Kimberley Gwen Polman, Chouay, and her two children, were repatriated from Syria on October 26 of 2022.[1] Both Polman and Chouay were taken into custody.[2] But only Chouay was deemed a threat, and ended up facing criminal charges. Polman was granted bail, and was later given a kind of parole-like supervised release.[3] The Toronto Star reported that the repatriation gave hope to approximately fifty other Canadian refugees of Daesh, still in the camps.[4] Aljazeera commented on the relatively slow pace of the repatriation of Canadian citizens.[5]
The Suburban quoted an RCMP press release, which said Chouay “had been the subject of an investigation by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) since November 2014.”[2]
Chouay's charges included funding terrorism and leaving Canada to participate in terrorism.[2]
On October 30, 2022, pediatric Psychiatrist Cécile Rousseau called on authorities to keep Chouay's children with her, or have them cared for by Chouay's family.[3]
Chouay was released on $5000 bail, at a bail hearing in Montreal on January 6, 2023.[1][6] She has to wear an ankle monitor, report to Police once a month, refrain from using social media, and is restricted with speaking with particular individuals who might be called upon as witnesses at her trial.
Most of her hearing, including the reasoning behind her release, is under a publication ban.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Quebec woman returned from ISIS detention camp in northeastern Syria granted bail". Yahoo News (Montreal). 2023-01-06. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20230106202914/https://ca.news.yahoo.com/quebec-woman-returned-isis-detention-172228395.html. Retrieved 2023-01-08. "Chouay, 27, is charged with leaving Canada to participate in the activity of a terrorist group, participating in the activity of a terrorist group, providing property or services for terrorism purposes and conspiracy to participate in the activity of a terrorist group."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dan Laxer (2022-11-02). "Pierrefonds woman arrested on terrorism charges". The Suburban. Archived from the original on 2022-11-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20221105054246/https://www.thesuburban.com/news/west_island_news/pierrefonds-woman-arrested-on-terrorism-charges/article_47968504-c3f5-5e6d-be8f-dd0a76ab0822.html. Retrieved 2023-01-08. "Chouay had been held in a detention camp in Syria until Canada agreed on her repatriation. According to a release by the RCMP, she “had been the subject of an investigation by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) since November 2014.” She is charged, according to the release, with leaving Canada to participate in activity of terrorist group, participation in activity of terrorist group, poviding [sic], making available, etc. property or services for terrorist purposes, and conspiracy for leaving Canada to participate in activity of terrorist group."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Women, kids detained in ISIS camps should be repatriated to Canada quickly: expert". Chat News Today (Montreal). 2022-10-30. https://chatnewstoday.ca/2022/10/30/women-kids-detained-in-isis-camps-should-be-repatriated-to-canada-quickly-expert/. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
- ↑ Allan Woods (2022-10-26). "montreal-woman-arrested-for-participating-in-terror-group-years-after-disappearing-to-syria.html". Toronto Star (Montreal). Archived from the original on 2022-11-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20221112104206/https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2022/10/26/montreal-woman-arrested-for-participating-in-terror-group-years-after-disappearing-to-syria.html. Retrieved 2023-01-08. "The surprise move has given hope to advocates for about 50 Canadians currently being detained in dangerous and disease-ridden prison camps that they too will soon be returned to Canada — the adults to potentially face justice, the nearly 30 children to live in secure conditions most have never known."
- ↑ "Canada repatriates two women, two children from northeast Syria". Aljazeera. 2022-10-26. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20230106190939/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/26/canada-repatriates-two-women-two-children-from-northeast-syria. Retrieved 2023-01-08. "For years, rights groups and opposition politicians have urged the Canadian government to repatriate dozens of its citizens held in camps in northeastern Syria, saying they were languishing in “inhumane” conditions without being charged with a crime."
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Quebec woman returned from ISIS detention camp in northeastern Syria granted bail". CBC News. 2023-01-06. Archived from the original on 2023-01-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20230108060850/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/oumaima-chouay-granted-bail-1.6706046. Retrieved 2023-01-08. "Chouay was released on condition she wear a GPS tracking bracelet, refrain from using any form of social media and report to police once a month. A family member must also put up $5,000 to ensure her presence in court."
