While “experts” are claiming that Canada has a moral responsibility to bring ISIS fighters home from foreign prisons, the same fighters insist they do not want to return if it means they will face justice.
One Canadian who does not want to return is Mohammed Khalifa, a Saudi-Canadian who was a narrator of gruesome ISIS propaganda videos.
Khalifa, also known as Abu Ridwan, is currently in a Kurdish-run prison in Northern Syria.
The Canadian government has demonstrated that they are actively looking to return imprisoned ISIS fighters like Khalifa. However, Khalifa himself has made it clear that he would rather stay in Syria than face a Canadian court.
“In terms of going back to be judged, then no,” Khalifa told CBC.
Khalifa told reporters that he would only be interested in returning to Canada if he would not face trial and if he could bring his non-Canadian wife and three children with him.
Despite being in jail, Khalifa still has no regrets. He even compared his job narrating ISIS execution videos to an ordinary job in Canada.
“We come in the morning and we leave later in the day. If you finish your work, you might leave early. It’s nothing unusual if you consider how you work even in like Canada; you know if you are sick or have an emergency, you take a day off. It was very normal,” he said.
His most infamous video, Flames of War, shows Syrian soldiers forced to dig their graves before being shot.
Khalifa is one of around 190 Canadian ISIS fighters held in foreign prisons, mostly in Syria. There is also an unknown number of ISIS brides and their children remaining in Syria.
One of these Canadian ISIS brides, like Khalifa, told the media that she has no regrets about her part in the genocidal Islamist regime.
While mounting testimony reveals that former ISIS members have no remorse, and many do not want to return to Canada if it means they face trial, experts continue to insist that Canada has a moral responsibility to bring them here.
Two United Nations officials have attempted to shame Canada for not taking in ISIS fighters yet.
“[Nations, including Canada,] must assume responsibility for their nationals,” said UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet.
Another expert asked by the CBC suggests the potential American withdrawal from Syria might lead to ISIS fighters escaping from their Syrian prison, which he considers Canada’s fault for not bringing them to Canada first.
“Something like this was bound to happen,” Canadian Global Affairs Institute “expert” Michael Nesbitt said.
“There was always a risk something like this would happen and if we didn’t take action [to repatriate them] national security could be put at risk…I’d be worried about the Canadians, where they end up.”
The government estimates approximately 60 ISIS fighters with Canadian citizenship have willingly returned to Canada so far.
