The mother of a British-born man detained in Syria for more than eight years fears he could be transferred to Iraq to face execution or a life sentence without a fair trial.
Sally Lane, the mother of Jack Letts, called for her son’s repatriation to Canada, where he still holds citizenship, or to the UK – but says she has been ignored by authorities in each country.
Instead, she trawls online Arabic news and social media posts daily, and speaks to Syrians for signs of his whereabouts. “The UK government says they don’t know where he is,” she told The National. "Any information I get is from the region."
Mr Letts, now 30, was stripped of his British citizenship in 2018 after travelling to ISIS-controlled territory aged 18.
He was last known to be detained in a prison in Raqqa but Ms Lane believes he may have been transferred to another prison in north-east Syria a few months ago, after a jailbreak took place in Raqqa.
US Central Command said last week it would be transferring up to 7,000 foreign suspected ISIS fighters held in Syria to Iraq, and Ms Letts is “terrified” this will include her son.
"The so-called judicial system in Iraq is five-minute trials, forced confession, and because it is a terrorism conviction the penalty is execution or a life sentence," Ms Lane told The National. "How can the British government possibly justify this?”
She did not think he was among the 150 foreign prisoners transferred to Iraq by US forces last week, even though a British citizen was reported to have been among them.
The running of the prisons and camps – such as Al Hol and Al Roj – housing suspected ISIS fighters and their families will be handed over to the Syrian government, following an agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led armed group that had controlled Syria's north-east until earlier this month.
A fallout between the Syrian army and the SDF led to clashes, with some prisoners seizing the chance to flee amid the chaos. This prompted the urgent US-led transfer of prisoners to Iraq.
Statements from the US administration give Ms Lane some hope. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, has insisted that countries repatriate their citizens from Iraq and bring them back home to face justice.
Jack's mother is also hopeful that contact with her son would be easier if he were moved to Iraq, where Canada and the UK have embassies. “In Syria, they [Britain's Foreign Office] said they had no consular relations with the Kurds. The said they tried contacting them but the Kurds don’t answer the phone,” she said.
Ms Lane has spent almost a decade campaigning for her son to be returned home. She revealed she had travelled to Damascus for the first time last summer, where conversations with locals gave her hope that the current authorities would approach the issue differently than the SDF had.
“I do have hope from the Syrian government that they are committed to dealing with the issue in a responsible and legal matter,” she said.
A lawyer involved in the case of British-born Shamima Begum, who travelled as a teenager to Syria to marry an ISIS fighter, also previously told The National that a political resolution with the Syrian authorities under President Ahmad Al Shara was now more likely.
The unsanitary detention conditions and human rights abuse of prisoners under the SDF have long been documented, and described by British security experts as fertile propaganda for ISIS.
Videos circulating online last week showed children of primary school age being released from prison in Raqqa, where they were held, after participating in protests against SDF rule, on suspicion of being members of ISIS.
A human rights investigation last year found that SDF-run prisons and camps were holding around 56,000 men, women and children, “most arbitrarily and indefinitely detained”, with detainees subjected to “torture … beatings, stress positions and electric shocks”.
These reports alarm Ms Lane, who asks why there has been no response from the UK and Canadian government.
Her attempts to visit her son in north-east Syria were denied by the SDF, and she believes this was due to her criticism of the conditions in the prisons.
The last time she spoke to her son was in July 2017, a few weeks after he had been captured by the SDF while fleeing Raqqa. Back then, she said, Jack told her he would be released within a week. She blames British intervention for his prolonged detention.
Ms Lane and her former husband, John Letts, were in 2019 convicted of funding terrorism after sending their son £223 ($308) when he was in Syria, after he had told them he wanted to leave.
She saw a video of Jack from November 2024, when he was interviewed by Canadian TV journalist Avery Haines. Jack was brought by prison guards into the interview barefoot, his face gaunt and he was scared of answering questions about life in the prison in front of the guards.
“It was horrific, he looked terrible,” Ms Lane said. "He’s broken. He was a lively, happy, funny teenager."
The escalation in Aleppo and north-east Syria has led to 146,000 people – mainly Kurds – fleeing their homes and a blockade is now in place on the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani.
The UK government said on Wednesday it was speaking to the Syrian government and the SDF to bring an end to the violence and resume dialogue – with particular concern over a security vacuum that could lead to the resurgence of ISIS.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper spoke to her Syrian counterpart Asaad Al Shibani, to highlight "the importance of protecting the rights of Kurdish and other minority communities".
"We urge all parties to swiftly agree to a permanent ceasefire and to resume, as soon as possible, negotiations aiming at the peaceful and sustainable integration of north-east Syria into a unitary and sovereign state that effectively respects and protects the rights of all its citizens," Ms Cooper said in a joint statement with the US, France and Germany.
“We reiterate the need to maintain and focus collective efforts on the fight against ISIS. We call upon all parties to avoid any security vacuum in and around ISIS detention centres."
