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A Canadian military veteran who had been detained by Iraqi authorities after spending six months fighting against ISIL has been released, his mother said Tuesday.

“He’s been freed, thank God,” Kay Kennedy said shortly after her son Michael Kennedy phoned home from Erbil to say he was no longer being held. “I am so happy you couldn’t imagine.”

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She said he told her he had been detained with three Americans and two Germans over travel visa problems. While Kennedy had a valid Iraqi visa, his travelling companions did not.

When Iraqi authorities arrested the Americans and Germans, Kennedy insisted they take him as well. “Mike told them ‘If you take my comrades you take me too,’ ” his mother said.

“He did not want to let his group end up in prison without him,” she said, adding the others remained in their cell but expected to be released soon and that all would be home by Christmas.

A Royal Canadian Navy veteran, Kennedy, 32, is one of hundreds of international volunteers fighting alongside Kurdish militias on the frontlines against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.