“It feels like I’m being forced to stay here against my will,” says Vanita Mirpuri, a Canadian woman who hasn't been able to leave Mauritius since 2021, partly because Canada refuses to release her passport.

A Canadian woman says she has been stuck in the Indian Ocean country of Mauritius for the past five years, unable to return home, partly because Canada refuses to release her passport.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Mauritius says Vanita Mirpuri is prohibited from leaving the country because of a five-year-old “computer misuse” charge against her based on a complaint by her former husband. But the charge was withdrawn in March, and Canada is still unwilling to return her passport without the approval of local authorities, she says.

Ms. Mirpuri surrendered her passport to Canada’s h

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