A Canadian mother of six who was considered a security risk and was denied permission to return home by the federal government has died suddenly in Turkey, her lawyer said.

Lawrence Greenspon said he was told his client was found dead in a cell at a Turkish immigration center on the night of October 16-17.

The 40-year-old woman, known publicly by her initials FJ, was trying to return home to Canada and had somehow managed to escape from a detention camp in northeast Syria for ISIS suspects and their families, Greenspon said.

“It’s a completely unnecessary tragedy that has happened,” he told CBC News. “I have no doubt that this is the end result of an incredibly non-humanitarian policy on the part of Global Affairs Canada.

“I have no doubt that if she had been repatriated with her children, she would still be alive today.”

WATCH | The lawyer says the woman’s death was “useless’:

Canadian mother of 6 denied repatriation dies in Türkiye, lawyer says

A Canadian mother of six – known publicly by her initials FJ – died in Turkey after escaping from a Syrian detention camp for ISIS suspects and their families, her lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said. Ottawa had repatriated her four boys and two girls, but refused to take her home, considering her a security risk.

Global Affairs did not respond to the claim, but said Canadian officials were in contact with local authorities and could not share more information due to privacy concerns.

Two other Canadian lawyers and a senator have sent a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, asking the federal government to request an independent investigation into a death they say has raised “a number of troubling questions.”

In May, the federal government repatriated the woman four boys and two girls from al-Roj, northeast Syriawhere FJ had been detained for five years.

She was not allowed to join her children on the repatriation flight to Canada, Greenspon said, because the federal government said it did not have “the capacity to manage her behavior once she returned to the Canada.”

Greenspon said he challenged the government’s refusal to repatriate the woman through a judicial review in the Federal Court. He argued that Ottawa had not presented “a real excuse for not bringing her home” since eight other women had been repatriated from the same camp in al-Roj, and some had been taken care of through commitments. not to disturb public order in matters of terrorism.

“So for GAC to say she’s a security risk and we can’t deal with her behavior is nonsense,” he said.

Former CSIS analyst Phil Gurski disagrees. He said the federal government needs to task about 40 people to manage a potential threat through online monitoring, surveillance and intelligence from allies.

“So the more people we bring back, that means a real strain on the resources of the RCMP and CSIS,” he said.

Gurski said the fact that the government chose not to repatriate this person suggests to him that CSIS or the RCMP had information indicating that she could have carried out an attack in Canada, or that she was radicalized and could influence the people here.

Greenspon said he was unaware of any such allegations against his client.

WATCH | Ottawa will repatriate 19 women and children detained in Syria:

Ottawa will repatriate 19 women and children detained in Syria, according to a lawyer

The federal government has agreed to repatriate 19 Canadian women and children held in Syrian detention camps for suspected ISIS members and their families.

That judicial review ended, Greenspon said, when the woman escaped the camp and fled to Turkey to try to obtain emergency travel documents and return to Canada.

Greenspon said FJ was arrested in Türkiye in June and charged with membership in a terrorist group. He said she was acquitted at an Oct. 15 criminal hearing in Türkiye and transferred to an immigration detention center, where she was later found dead.

“It makes no sense that after a trial concluded on the 15th, she died within 48 hours of that ruling. It makes no sense,” said Greenspon, who is requesting an autopsy.

CBC News is not naming FJ to protect the identities of his six children, all minors living in foster care in Quebec. CTV News first reported his death. The woman’s children and her mother in Tunisia have been informed, Greenspon said.

International human rights lawyer Alex Neve described his death as “absolutely heartbreaking”.

WATCH | Canadian mothers in ISIS detention camp:

Canadian mothers in ISIS detention camp

As word spreads in Syria’s al-Roj detention camp for families of ISIS fighters that a four-year-old Canadian girl has been freed, other mothers struggle to send their own children safe. Some say they couldn’t survive without them, while others beg Canada to bring them to safety.

“Knowing that these six children have now been forever deprived of their mother, who was obviously an essential person in their lives, and also knowing at the same time that this could have been avoided,” said Neve, an assistant professor at the University . University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University.

Neve was part of a delegation that went to al-Roj in August 2023 and met FJ and his children. The delegation was “struck at that moment,” Neve said, by how close the children were to each other and to their mother.

He called on the government to repatriate all Canadians detained in northeast Syria. He said if there is evidence against those detained, they should be charged and tried in Canada, not exiled abroad.

Neve said there were now serious questions about FJ’s death. He and Senator Kim Pate are calling for an independent investigation.

The letter says they were told FJ was having trouble sleeping and was being given “a sedative and other medications to help with this problem,” and that it was his lawyer in Turkey who found his body .

The letter’s authors also said Turkish authorities told them they had concluded the cause of his death was a heart attack, but did not believe an autopsy had been performed. The letter said FJ had recently undergone surgery for anal fissures in Türkiye, but those who visited the prison said there was no indication she was in poor health.

“Suddenly, an otherwise healthy 40-year-old woman suddenly dies of a heart attack in the middle of the night. It’s worrying,” Neve said.

CBC News asked Joly’s office and Global Affairs Canada if they would support an investigation, but has not yet received a response.

Gurski said Canadians who went to Syria and joined ISIS should not be treated as victims because it is a “heinous terrorist group that has engaged in rape, murder and mass beheadings.”

“The only victims are the people who suffered under ISIS rule during the so-called caliphate,” he said. “ISIS victims are in Iraq and Syria, including the Yazidis who ISIS wanted to completely eliminate.”

WATCH | Yazidis are heartbroken over the imminent repatriation of suspected IS members:

Yazidis heartbroken over impending repatriation of suspected ISIS members

Survivors of the Yazidi genocide, one of the worst atrocities of the 21st century perpetrated by the Islamic State, say they are heartbroken by Ottawa’s decision to repatriate Canadians held in Syrian detention camps for suspected members of the ISIS and their families.