Proof of life, fear and failed repatriation for an Edmonton family

After two weeks of nightmarish silence, one Edmonton family finally received proof of life from their loved ones who disappeared from a detention camp in northeast Syria.

After two weeks of nightmarish silence, one Edmonton family finally received proof of life from their loved ones who disappeared from a detention camp in northeast Syria.

The two women, who are sisters-in-law, and three teenage daughters had been detained at the Al-Hol camp and were supposed to be on a repatriation plane that flew out of Syria on April 5. The five Canadians never made it to the meeting point.

According to lawyer Zachary Al-Khatib, who represents the Edmonton mother of one woman who went missing, his client received a call from an unknown number at 6:02 a.m. MDT on Tuesday. When she picked up the phone she heard her daughter's voice.

"(She said) they were alive and had been in prison for the last 11 days and mistreated by Kurdish guards - that they were in need of medical attention. All their personal belongings were confiscated and they had nothing but the clothes on their back," said Al-Khatib.

Al-Khatib says the conversation between the detainee and her mother lasted four minutes. Then the phone call was abruptly "cut off."

The five were part of group of 19 Canadians that Global Affairs Canada agreed to bring home after they sued the federal government in federal court. The women and children have been languishing for years in sprawling camps run by Kurdish forces.

The camps hold wives, widows and children of foreigners who are suspected of joining the Islamic State during the Syrian civil war.