Chatham man freed in Syria was helping mother bring her kids home

A Chatham, Ont. man who has been freed from captivity in Syria was helping a mother bring her two children back to Canada.

Sean Moore, along with Jolly Bimbachi, both from Chatham, Ont., were being detained by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an affiliate of al-Qaeda, according to a government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Global Affairs Canada confirmed both have since been released.

CBC interviewed Bimbachi late last year when she was travelling to Lebanon in November to reunite with her two sons. Bimbachi alleged her then-husband took the boys to Lebanon in 2015 for a family trip and never returned. Bimbachi's been fighting to get her sons back ever since.

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"I planned to take my kids out of Lebanon illegally because I thought my options were very, very slim to get custody of them or bring them back home legally," she said while speaking with people on the ground after her release.

Bimbachi explained she planned to smuggle her children out of Lebanon through Syria, but was unsuccessful. The government official said she gave them the number of her ex-husband and the two boys were returned to Lebanon.

"I have no regrets because I got to see and feel what the Syrian people go through on a daily basis," she added.

Jolly Bimbachi planned to smuggle her sons out of Lebanon

7 years ago

Duration 1:15

Jolly Bimbachi said she has no regrets about trying to take her children out of Lebanon illegally, despite spending weeks detained by al-Qaeda affiliate, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, in Syria.

The official said Bimbachi and Moore weren't threatened with harm, and no ransom money was sought or paid.

It's not clear when Bimbachi and Moore were released, but in a statement Monday a Global Affairs Canada spokesperson said they had safely left Syria and that the Canadian government was continuing to provide them assistance.

Planned to help mother

Moore had taken taken several trips to Iraq in the past where he helped repair homes and built latrine systems, said Jeff Bultje, a friend from Chatham.

Bultje travelled to Iraq with Moore on one of these missions in 2015.

"He got arrested in Iraq when I was with him and the only way he could leave the country was [that] he was tagged persona non grata. He's not allowed back in Iraq," said Bultje. 

We still hope that we can work on the legalities, what happened and what went sideways, and the truth of what happened will come out eventually.- Sean Moore, Was held in Syria

Moore was travelling to Lebanon and Jordan to help Bimbachi bring her kids back to Canada, Bultje confirmed. He last spoke to Moore around the holidays and thought everything was going as planned. 

Bultje did not know that Moore had been in Syria or that he had been allegedly held captive. 

"He kind of does things as a guest in a country that is probably not the coolest thing," said Bultje. "It's dangerous work."

Moore was also interviewed after his release. He said he wasn't sure if his family knew he was still alive, so apologized for putting them through the worry and promised to come home soon.

Sean Moore tells his family he's still alive after being detained in Syria for weeks

7 years ago

Duration 0:22

Sean Moore attempted to help Jolly Bimbachi take her children out of Lebanon and was detained for weeks in Syria.

He confirmed he and Bimbachi planned to arrive in Turkey with her children to work with the court there toward shared custody.

"I can't go through details why but there is a serious reason why things went sideways and we ended up in Syria," he said. "Now we still hope that we can work on the legalities, what happened and what went sideways, and the truth of what happened will come out eventually."

It's not clear how Moore and Bimbachi ended up in the hands of HTS in Syria.