Five detainees set to return from Syria held and mistreated by guards instead, lawyer says

Two Canadian women and three teenage girls who were set to be repatriated from camps for family members of ISIS suspectsin Syria were instead detained and mistreated by their Kurdish guards rather than being taken to their pick-up point, their lawyer says.

The women have been missing ever sincethe repatriation flight to Canada took off without them more than 10 days ago.

Edmonton lawyerZachary Al-Khatibtold CBC News thatone of the women was able to make a short phone call toa relative Tuesday before the line dropped after 4 minutes.

The woman said the five of them hadbeen detained and mistreated by Kurdishauthorities inwhat's known as "Red Prison" at al-Hol camp andata secondprison, said Al-Khatib.

"They were in real distress," Al-Khatib said. "There was a very short proof-of-life call. They wanted to come back to Canada."

Al-Khatib said thewomen require medical attention and are in need of assistance. He said he doesn't knowwhy his clients were in Syria and he hasn't seen a "shred of evidence these two women travelled for the purposes of joining ISIS."

Global Affairs Canada said it now has credible information indicating the five Canadians are atAl-Roj camp.

The Al-Roj campis the location the Canadian government used as a meeting place earlier this month for those it brought back to Canada. Thecampshold ISIS suspects and their family members.

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The lawyer for multiple Canadian women and their children long-detained in a Syrian camp for suspected ISIS members and their families told CBC News a deal has been reached to bring them home, and some may be on their way.

The five Canadianswere supposed to be among a group of 19 Canadian women and children who were part of a federal court case. The federalgovernment promised to bring them home. Only 14 made the flighton April 6.

Relatives in Canada received a frantic text message earlier this monthfrom a woman at al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria saying shesaw the women being put into a military vehicle on April 2 and taken away to the Red Prison, an interrogation site controlled by Kurdish authorities.

The Toronto Star was first to report on the developments on Monday.

'We didn't think it was an actual possibility'

An audio recording from April 11 between the mother of one of the womenand a Global Affairs official suggests allies warned Canada that sometimes citizens don't show up for repatriation flightsatdesignated pick-up points.

The Canadian official was calling the woman to tell her thatefforts are underway tolocate her daughter.

During the roughly 16-minute recording, heard by CBC News, the Global Affairs official says Canada's repatriation efforts in the past have gone smoothlybut other countries have warned that isn'talways the case.

"We didn't want to believe that happens, but this has happened to other countries and they tried to warn us," the Global Affairs official told the mother a week ago. "And when it did actually happen, we were kind of shocked by it.

"We didn't think it was an actual possibility."

Human rights lawyer Alex Nevesaid the Global Affairs official's comment is telling.

"It is stunning to hear any government official suggest they didn't think a human rights risk of this nature was a very real possibility in northeast Syria," said Neve, asenior fellow at the Graduate School of Public International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.

Neveis among those who have petitioned the government to repatriate its citizens. He said the government spent too much time resisting repatriationand is now scrambling to make the necessary arrangements without putting some detainees at risk.

Al-Khatibsaid it's "completely unacceptable and unbelievable" that the Canadian government failed toensure the five women and girlsmade it safely to the pick-up point.

He said the women in the camps were told in late Marchby the Canadian governmentthatthey had to identify themselves to Kurdish authorities controlling the al-Hol camp and ask for transportation to al-Roj campto be part of the repatriation effort.

"[The women] were extremely concerned about their personal safety," said Al-Khatib. "Al-Hol is a very dangerous place. They communicated their concerns. They were worried they were going to be assaulted, they were worried their physical safety was in jeopardy if they went to tell the guards they needed to be transported."

On the recording, the Canadian official tells the woman that the government is exhausting "every avenue" to try and find the missing women, and is requesting information from Kurdish authorities, NGOs, and other allies who have representatives on the ground in northeastern Syria.

The Global Affairs official is heard saying on the recording that Canadian officialstold Kurdish authoritiesnot to detain any Canadians it was repatriating.

The official also said Canadian representatives toldKurdish officials they wanted to bring 19 Canadians home, not 14, and that what happened wasn't right.

Looking for the 'Red Prison'

The official added the government was going to see ifRCMP on the ground in the region can locate the women or find out any information about the Red Prison.

"We had never heard of it before," the Global Affairs official said on the audio recording. "We're kind of at a loss to what this prison is."

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Global Affairs Canada said in a media statement it "has taken extraordinary steps" to repatriate the 19 Canadian women and children.

The department said that "as long as conditions allow," it would work toward repatriating the two women and three teenage girls, but didn't say when that could happen.