Jack Letts appeals for repatriations from Iraq in 'out of the blue' phone call to parents
Jack Letts appeals for repatriations from Iraq in 'out of the blue' phone call to parents Submitted by Simon Hooper on Mon, 08/03/2026 - 17:48 British-born Canadian man, who spoke to his parents for the first time in almost a decade, is among thousands of detainees transferred from Syria to Iraq earlier this year Jack Letts, pictured during an interview filmed in a Syrian prison for CTV News's W5…
British-born Canadian man Jack Letts has appealed to his parents for repatriation from Iraq in a "out of the blue" phone call, nine years after they were last able to speak to him. Letts, 30, traveled to IS-controlled territory in Syria as a teenager in 2014. In 2017, he was stripped of his British citizenship. He was detained by Kurdish forces in Syria, and has been held without charge in Iraq since earlier this year, among other suspected IS fighters.
Letts' parents, Sally and John Letts, were shocked and relieved to receive the unexpected call from their son in an Iraqi detention centre. The call lasted only three minutes and was facilitated by Iraqi officials amid mounting pressure to repatriate foreign nationals held over alleged links to IS. Letts, who denies ever being a member of IS, claims he needs to convey a message to the Canadian government to repatriate him before trial as Iraq does not want them there.
Human rights experts have raised concerns about the prospect of Letts and other detainees being put on trial for alleged offences committed in Syria due to years of unlawful detention and well-documented due process violations in counterterrorism proceedings.
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