A 29-year-old woman has been charged with alleged participation with the terrorist group ISIS after being brought back from Syria earlier this year, the RCMP said Friday.
Ammara Amjad initially returned to Canada from Syria on April 4 and was arrested upon her arrival at the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport on a terrorism peace bond, then released with conditions.
The RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) laid a formal charge on Oct. 5 in Milton, Ont., for alleged participation in the activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The offence can bring up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
Amjad appeared at the William Davis Courthouse in Brampton for a bail hearing related to the charge and has since been released on bail with a number of conditions. Her next court date is scheduled for Nov. 17, RCMP said.
She was among four Canadian women, along with their 10 children, brought back to Canada in April from the Syrian detention camps for ISIS suspects. Nine total have since returned. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) previously said the women were from “ISIS families.”
Terrorism peace bonds place restrictions on individuals for up to a year, and can include the use of an ankle bracelet, mandatory de-radicalization counselling and having to stay away from terrorism literature.
Violating the conditions can lead to arrest.
Canada has struggled to bring charges against so-called Canadian Extremist Travellers, with police citing the challenges of collecting evidence from overseas war zones. National security agencies have instead relied on peace bonds, surveillance, the no-fly list and the refusal of passports.
The federal government initially declined to help get the women out of the makeshift prisons and detention camps in Syria, but officials agreed to bring them back after their families filed an appeal in the Federal Court.
— with files from Global News’ Stewart Bell.
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