Publishing of “Reasonable Cause to Suspect”
“Eventually securing a meeting with the Foreign Office in June 2017 – after screaming uncontrollably down their ‘emergency’ phone line – I asked the Head of Special Cases how he would feel if it was his own son. ‘I can see that it is very distressing for you,’ he said. ‘And how would you feel if it was your own son, and you were faced with someone like you?’ I pursued. ‘At least you would know you had done all you could do,’ was his reply.
The Head of Special Cases was wrong. We were nowhere near saying we had done all we could do. Our battle for justice for Jack had only just begun.”
Sally Lane, mother of Jack Letts has written memoirs that detail the events leading up to, and including her son’s capture and detention in a Kurdish prison in NE Syria. The book explains how a bright, lively, linguistically talented teenager from Oxford wound up in life-threatening circumstances and how - still to this day - his parents are ensnared in a seemingly impossible struggle to rescue him.
“Reasonable Cause to Suspect” was published in 2023, and is available worldwide everywhere books are sold.
Reviews:
“Reasonable Cause to Suspect takes you on a gut-wrenching journey through the eyes of a devoted mother, Sally Lane. As she weaves her way through the legal and political systems and the unimaginable atrocities in Syria, Sally is determined to hold her son, Jack, in her arms again. At every turn, you need to remind yourself this story has not been dreamt up as fiction but rather is a real-life nightmare where despair and hope clash. You will never forget Jack’s story and his mother’s unwavering love and fierce commitment. ”
“This is an extraordinary tale...a testament to an ordinary parent’s unconditional love for a child told with candour and courage. A gripping read. ”
“This book details deep loss in a Kafkaesque political landscape with surprising clarity, ironic humour and sobriety. Sally Lane lost her son to a war zone, and then to religious fervour, and now governmental inaction leaves him in an unending prison sentence - showing our democratic government’s totalitarian stance on those it accuses as terror suspects, who once labelled, suffer an ongoing suspension of due process and are forever seen as guilty without trial. Who among us would not try to bring a family member home? The family has not given up. ”
“I have been witnessing the pain and courage of the Letts for many years. Sally, Jack’s mother is a mother everyone should have. This book is another step in that fight for justice for Jack and others. Western citizens, so long consumed by a narrative of Muslim terrorism, have allowed the powerful to take liberties with our liberties. More of us need to stand with the parents and young people who were or are caught between Islamicists and state agents. ”
“This book is a courageous refusal to submit to the violence of cold, indifferent bureaucracy. For this simple drive to hold onto that which is so dear to her, Sally and her family have been effectively unpeopled by the well-oiled stigmatising mechanisms within this society. She lays out in detail the sophisticated system of manipulation that rendered her family rightless. Bring Jack home. Enough is enough. ”
