# RCMP arrest three for terrorism offences



## vonGarvin

Just saw this on http://www.ctv.ca/news


> Two Ottawa residents have been arrested in relation to terrorist offences, the RCMP announced Wednesday, adding that more arrests are expected.
> 
> The Mounties issued a press release Wednesday announcing the early-morning arrests but did not provide any further information on the identity of the suspects, or the allegations.



More at this  link.


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## PegcityNavy

Can't wait for the commie broadcasting corporation to trot out their analysts to tell us they were just upset about israel, or the ground zero mosque or whatever BS grievance it is this week.


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## vonGarvin

Pegcity said:
			
		

> Can't wait for the commie broadcasting corporation to trot out their analysts to tell us they were just upset about israel, or the ground zero mosque or whatever BS grievance it is this week.


Don't go to their website.  They (the comments by the rabble) are claiming that somehow Harper is at fault.  Or Bush.  Or both.  I shit you not.


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## George Wallace

Here reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:


RCMP arrest 2 on 'terrorist offences' in Ottawa
25/08/2010 2:48:11 PM
CBC

*The RCMP say they have arrested two Ottawa residents and expect to make more arrests for what they describe as "terrorist offences."*

The RCMP's national security enforcement team arrested two people at 8 a.m. Wednesday and search warrants are being executed, the police force said in a release.

Police sources told the CBC that two men were arrested at a residence at 91 Esterlawn Private, a street in the Carlingwood neighbourhood. No charges have yet been laid.

The arrests were made in relation to plans that were in the developing stages and had yet to be executed, police sources told the CBC. They said police plan to arrest at least one other person.

No further details were provided. A news conference is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Charges are expected to be announced at Thursday's news conference, police sources said.

With files from the CBC's Alison Crawford


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## George Wallace

Here reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:



Update: 2 arrested in Ottawa terror probe; second search underway

By Citizen Staff, The Ottawa Citizen
August 25, 2010 3:23 PM

LINK


OTTAWA — Police in Ottawa have arrested two men in connection with an alleged al-Qaeda-related terrorism plot.

The arrests occurred Wednesday at a house at 91 Esterlawn Pvt., near the intersection of Woodroffe and Carling avenues. Officers from the RCMP and Ottawa police raided the house at about 7 a.m.

The RCMP said in a press release that they were executing a number of search warrants and additional arrests are expected.

A vehicle was removed during the search of 91 Esterlawn Private. The registered owner of the vehicle is Ahmed Misbahuddin, 36. 

A search of court records involving Misbahuddin shows that he was arrested for speeding in March 2009 on the Ottawa River Parkweay. At the time he was living at 217-220 Woodridge Cres. RCMP were searching that address 

in the Bayshore area of the city on Wednesday afternoon. 

The National Post reported the investigation involved an al-Qaeda plot and that the ringleader is believed to have trained in the Pakistan and Afghanistan region. The Post said the investigation involved a bomb plot, though it was not well-defined and the arrests were made today because one of the suspects was preparing to travel abroad.

Police said they will release additional details about the investigation at a press conference on Thursday.

Neighbours say they saw police arrive at the house at 91 Esterlawn Pvt. before 7 a.m. Wednesday. At least five Ottawa police cars and one RCMP cruiser were parked on the street.

Neighbours say they saw several unmarked police cars in the area. They described the residents of the house as devout Muslims.

Around 10 a.m., an officer emerged from the home with a camera.

Watch ottawacitizen.com and follow @ottawacitizen on Twitter for updates.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen


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## PegcityNavy

I thought the old lefties preached poverty was the root cause of terrorism, funny because on the nationalpost they had a picture of one of the suspects cars, a brand new fully loaded Mazda 6 retail price with options 45 thousand dollars.


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## OldSolduer

I remember Mehmet Al Agca, the terrorist who attempted to assasinate the Pope.

He said ideology wasn't important...the only important thing was to be an international terrorist.

IMO, terrorism isn't caused by poverty. Most of the terrorists in the 70's in Europe (Baader-Meinhof gang) etc came from upper middle class backgrounds, if I remember correctly.


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## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:


Mounties conduct second raid on alleged Ottawa terror cell 


By Stewart Bell, National Post 
August 25, 2010 3:59 PM

LINK

A second search was underway in Ottawa on Wednesday afternoon, in connection with the arrests earlier in the day of two men — with suspected links to al-Qaida.

The men were arrested on terrorism charges.

This time, police were searching an address in the west end of the city.

Earlier Wednesday, the RCMP made two arrests in the nation's capital without incident. The men are suspected of preparing a terrorist attack targeting Canada. The ringleader allegedly attended training camps in the Pakistan and Afghanistan region.

But the bomb plot was described as not well-defined and the arrests were apparently made because one of the suspects was preparing to travel abroad.

A news conference has been scheduled for Thursday afternoon. The RCMP, Ottawa Police Service and Canadian Security Intelligence Service were involved in the operation.

"At approximately 8:00 this morning, A Division's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (A-INSET) investigators arrested two Ottawa residents in relation to terrorist offences," the RCMP said in a news release Wednesday afternoon.

"Search warrants are being executed in order to secure additional evidence. More arrests are anticipated."

The suspects have not been named.

The case is considered the most significant counter-terrorism operation in Canada since Project Osage, the 2006 arrests of the Toronto 18, young al-Qaida-inspired extremists who plotted attacks in southern Ontario.

Although police have released little information, the case appears to fit the pattern of so-called homegrown terrorists, the term for Canadians who have become radicalized and adopted the al-Qaida ideology.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews could not immediately be reached for comment, but a Public Safety spokesman said "the government of Canada monitors national security concerns and is vigilant in protecting against any threats."

"As Minister Toews has said, it is clear that Canada is not immune from international or homegrown radicalization," said Chris McCluskey. "Recent successful prosecutions in the Toronto 18, Momin Khawaja and Said Namouh cases demonstrate that the threat of terrorism is very real. Canada has disrupted terrorist plots, and has successively tried and convicted terrorists. And that work continues."

The alleged plot could be the latest attempt by remnants and affiliates of al-Qaida to use Western recruits to strike inside North America.

"There is substantial evidence from cases in the U.K. and the E.U. that various so-called homegrown groups do demonstrate a connection to an al-Qaida centre in areas of doctrine, strategy, tactics and target selection," said Prof. Martin Rudner, a Carleton University terrorism expert.

In a speech in Toronto on Aug. 9, Toews said he was increasingly concerned about the radicalization taking place in Canada.

"There are homegrown Islamists and other extremists here in Canada," he said. "In this country, it is the right of all Canadians to hold and discuss a wide range of beliefs.

"But what we are seeing here is not about disagreement and debate. Our concern is with extremist ideologies that lead individuals to espouse or engage in violence. These individuals reject the values on which our country is based, and they must be stopped."

He said indoctrination and radicalization are occurring partly on the Internet and the speed at which they were radicalizing was proving a challenge for police and intelligence agencies.

"While only a small fraction of a percentage of our population is engaged in activities that pose a security threat, we need to thwart such threats before they can be carried out," he said.

National Post with files from Ottawa Citizen, Janice Tibbetts
sbellnationalpost.com


Sidebar


* Key RCMP Anti-Terrorism Arrests Since 9/11  *


*Project Awaken*

Momin Khawaja of Ottawa convicted for his role in a plot to detonate bombs in the United Kingdom.


*Project Solitaire*

Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian businessman, accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks.


*Project Summum*

Said Namouh, a Moroccan living in Quebec, sentenced to life for plotting to bomb targets in Germany and Austria.


*Project Oneedle*

Four Tamil Canadians arrested in New York for trying to buy missiles for the Tamil Tigers.


*Project Osage*

The Toronto 18 terrorists who plotted to bomb downtown Toronto and attack the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa arrested. The key suspects were convicted or pleaded guilty.


*Project Stellar*

Resulted in charges against a suspect who fabricated evidence about a supposed plot to bomb Queen's Park, the provincial legislature, in Toronto.

© Copyright (c) National Post


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## dapaterson

Some reports indicate that the second location being searched is a former residence of one individual who was arrested.


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## George Wallace

Here reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:


*Update: 2 arrested in Ottawa terror probe; second search underway*  

LINK

OTTAWA — Police in Ottawa have arrested two men in connection with an alleged al-Qaeda-related terrorism plot, and initiated the search of a second property.

The arrests occurred Wednesday at a house at 91 Esterlawn Pvt., near the intersection of Woodroffe and Carling avenues. Officers from the RCMP and Ottawa police raided the house at about 7 a.m.

The RCMP said in a press release that they were executing a number of search warrants and additional arrests are expected.

Anthony Seaboyer, head of the proliferation security research group at Queen's University's Centre for International Relations, called the arrests "a great success" for Canadian anti-terrorism forces.

"It shows that the RCMP, Ottawa police and CSIS can actually co-operate effectively," Seaboyer said. 

Given the scathing criticism of how security authorities handled the Air India bombing, "this is a good sign," he said. 

"Canada is moving more and more away from being a safe haven for terrorist organizations."

On the other hand, Seaboyer said, "it shows what's now going on out there. We have now found one group, but what else is out there?"

It's impossible to know how many terrorism cells are active in Canada, Seaboyer said, but those arrested Wednesday are "definitely not the only group out there, that's for sure."

He said Canada is becoming more of a target for terrorists who want to use attacks on Canadian facilities, such as Quebec's hydro-electric plants and transmission lines, to harm the United States.

"There are ways of attacking the U.S. through Canada. The whole energy for New York comes from Quebec, for example." 

A vehicle was removed during the search of 91 Esterlawn Private. The registered owner of the vehicle is Misbahuddin Ahmed, 36. 

A search of court records involving Ahmed shows that he was arrested for speeding in March 2009 on the Ottawa River Parkweay. At the time he was living at 217-220 Woodridge Cres. RCMP were searching that address in the Bayshore area of the city on Wednesday afternoon. 

“He seemed like a nice young guy,” said Robert Farrell, who owns the home at 91 Esterlawn Private.

Ahmed works as an x-ray technician at the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital, Farrell said, and lives in the home with his wife and their infant daughter of about six-months old.

“They seemed to be more of a traditional Muslim family.”

Farrell, a former Canadian diplomat who had been stationed in the Middle East, said he recalls Ahmed saying he was born in India but had lived for a time in Saudi Arabia.

“We met his wife at the time. She seemed quite nice.” 

She wore an Iranian-style head covering, Farrell said.

Ahmed rented the home about a year ago, after responding to ad Farrell placed on an online rental site. Farrell said he carefully checked his tenant’s references in the application and called the hospital to verify.

“His immediate supervisor gave him a very high recommendation. She said he was a very stable and very steady and a reliable employee,” Farrell said.

“If I recall correctly, she said, ‘I wish all my employees were like him,’ or something like that.”

Farrell’s wife believes Ahmed had been living in Canada for several years and had previously lived in the Bayshore area. 

He believes Ahmed as in his late 30s or early 40s.

The National Post reported the investigation involved an al-Qaeda plot and that the ringleader is believed to have trained in the Pakistan and Afghanistan region. The Post said the investigation involved a bomb plot, though it was not well-defined and the arrests were made today because one of the suspects was preparing to travel abroad.

Ottawa defence lawyer Samir Adam met for more than half an hour with one of the accused at Ottawa police headquarters on Elgin Street early Wednesday but had not been officially retained as counsel as of late Wednesday afternoon. 

Adam would not disclose what the two discussed but said he expects the accused to appear in court on Thursday. 

Police said they will release additional details about the investigation at a press conference on Thursday.

Neighbours say they saw police arrive at the house at 91 Esterlawn Pvt. before 7 a.m. Wednesday. At least five Ottawa police cars and one RCMP cruiser were parked on the street.

Neighbours say they saw several unmarked police cars in the area. They described the residents of the house as devout Muslims.

Around 10 a.m., an officer emerged from the home with a camera.

Police hauled several computer hard drives out of 91 Esterlawn around 2:15 p.m. Another officer brought out what appeared to be a scanner. 

Janice Burtt, a neighbour, said she only knew the man and woman who lived in the house to see them on the street. 

She would wave to her neighbours, but they never responded. 

"I don't think they gestured to me at all," Burtt said. "People keep to themselves, so that seemed nothing too out of the ordinary." 

Burtt said the people who live at 91 Esterlawn are quiet and keep to themselves. She would sometimes see them sitting on the front porch of their house. 

Burtt said this type of police activity is unusual in the condo complex. 

"Very quiet, very unassuming, very gentle," Burtt said. "Nobody out of the ordinary that I'm aware of." 

Neighbours say the couple likely rented the condo. 

Louise, who lives next door to the suspect and would not give her last name, said she saw several RCMP and Ottawa police cars on the street when she got the paper from her front porch early Wednesday morning.

She said the woman who lived in the house wore a full burqa. She often heard the couple chanting some kind of prayer in the morning. 

"It’s quite scary, actually," Louise said. "We are trying to process all of that. It’s quite the surprise." 

Debbie Rapoch, another neighbour, said she saw two women dressed in full burqas leave the home and walk down the street. She said at least one was carrying a car seat, but a child wasn't anywhere to be seen. A person picked up the women in a car and drove off.


Watch ottawacitizen.com and follow @ottawacitizen on Twitter for updates.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citize


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## George Wallace

Here reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

*RCMP make arrests for 'terrorist offences' in Ottawa*
25/08/2010 5:27:43 PM

CBC News 

[Edit:   Following paragraph ends article:]



> The Muslim Canadian Congress issued a statement commending the RCMP for arresting the suspects before they could carry out their plan, and hoped the accused would be tried with due process.
> 
> With files from the CBC's Alison Crawford


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## x512er

quote "The Muslim Canadian Congress issued a statement commending the RCMP for arresting the suspects before they could carry out their plan, and hoped the accused would be tried with due process."

With files from the CBC's Alison Crawford
 It is nice to see The Muslim community speaking out against their  lost sheep instead of condemning the RCMP. :2c:


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## HavokFour

Might just swing around to the house to see what's up. We haven't been visited by terrorists since Momin Khawaja, and to think I went to the same school as him!


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## kratz

Thanks to The Star, we now know one of the suspects was a contestant on Canadian Idol.

Complete with photo of Khuram Sher


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## vonGarvin

That man ought to be convicted for applying for that show.  Along with every other person who applied, irrespective of talent.


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## Old Sweat

According to this story, reproduced under the Fair Comment provisions of the Copyright Act, he is the third person taken into custody.

OTTAWA—A third terrorism suspect– one who moonwalked across a Montreal stage during an audition for Canadian Idol – was detained early Thursday, the Star has learned.

Khuram Sher was arrested as part of an RCMP national security investigation, as police continue to investigate a possible cell allegedly plotting to attack targets at home.

Sher told judges on the popular reality show in 2008 that he hailed from Pakistan and was a fan of “hockey, music and acting.”

He sings an off-tune rendition of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” with – as the show’s website describes – some “nifty” dance moves.

“Have you ever thought of being a comedian?” asks one of the judges of the 26-year-old.

Another remarks: “The dance moves were good, the singing, bad.”

One source close to the investigation said Sher was actually a Canadian-born physician and graduate of McGill University – quite a different persona from goofy contestant wearing a traditional Pakistani shalwar kameez and pakul hat as he performs robot dance moves and a Michael Jackson moonwalk.

Early Wednesday, two other alleged members of a group police believe were trying to form a local terrorism cell were arrested in Ottawa.

Ottawa’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team had been tracking the men for months and one of the suspects is alleged to have ties to high-level Al Qaeda affiliates abroad, sources close to the case told the Toronto Star.

Known as “Project Samosa,” the RCMP investigation reportedly began with intelligence passed on by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

The plot involved Canadian targets but was not “specific,” said a police source, adding that the arrests happened quickly since one suspect was planning to travel abroad. The alleged ringleader had reportedly travelled earlier to the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan in search of training.

The RCMP released only a short statement Wednesday confirming that the two Ottawa residents were taken into custody at 8 a.m. and that “search warrants are being executed in order to secure additional evidence.”

A news conference in Ottawa is scheduled for Thursday.

A source confirmed Wednesday that Misbahuddin Ahmed, listed as owning a car seized by police, was one of the accused. The name of the second suspect, Hiva Ali Zadeb, was disclosed Thursday by his Ottawa lawyer, Oliver Aberjel.

Ahmed had worked for two years as a general radiography technologist at Ottawa’s Hospital Civic Campus.

Guy Morency, the hospital’s director of diagnostic imaging, told the Star in an interview that Ahmed was a “stellar technologist.”

“We’ve had no complaints about him,” he said.

Morency said he had only met Ahmed a couple of times in meetings and described him as rather “nondescript.” But he did recall that Ahmed was able to provide “excellent” references from Montreal before he was hired.

“We were very pleased with what we heard and received and he has proven himself since.”

Morency, who was on vacation this week, said he would go into the hospital Thursday to speak with the department’s employees.

“Obviously this is going to be upsetting for a lot of people.”

Neighbours living on the west-end cul-de-sac where the 26-year-old suspect lived with his wife and baby said the raid was shocking.

“I live two doors down. It’s very scary,” said neighbour Janice Burtt.

Burtt said she believed the young Muslim couple had lived in the townhouse for about six months.

“I’d wave and say hello but I don’t think they gestured to me at all,” she said.

Nathan Aubie, who lived beside Ahmed, said he had only seen the couple three or four times but that “they seemed like friendly people.”

A second location, a seven-storey apartment complex about five kilometres away, was also raided early Wednesday. The windows of the apartment police searched were covered with patterned embroidery and five police cruisers still idled outside the building late in the day.

Some within Canada’s Muslim community said they were angered by Wednesday’s arrests, while others cautioned against indicting the accused before any evidence is known.

Salma Siddiqui, the Muslim Canadian Congress vice-president said in a telephone interview that he was “livid and frustrated” that young Muslim men were still being seduced by the idea of fighting a holy war in the name of Islam.

“It has to stop,” he said.

“Why are they not understanding that this is not acceptable? Why are they still going on accepting the doctrine of jihad? That is the where the whole problem is.”

It is the second time since 9/11 that an RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team has arrested a group of Canadian suspects planning to strike at home.

In June 2006, a group of young Muslim men dubbed the Toronto 18 were rounded up and prosecuted for plotting to attack downtown targets and a military base north of the city.

Of the 18 who were charged — 14 adults and four youths — 11 were eventually convicted. Charges against seven of the accused were dropped.

Zakaria Amara, one of the group’s ringleaders, pleaded guilty last year, confessing that he had been developing a series of bombs for the attacks that he hoped would force Canada out of Afghanistan. He was given a life sentence.

The case was seen as a wake-up call for Canadians and heralded as a successful test of the country’s anti-terrorism laws, which were introduced after 9/11. It was also held up as a model of co-operation between the Mounties and CSIS — organizations that had been plagued for years by mistrust and rivalry.

Critics of the Toronto18 case accused the RCMP of casting the net too wide and questioned whether police informants inside the group had unduly influenced the suspects.

While there are no known ties between the Ottawa suspects and those arrested in Toronto, the cases may have similarities in the way they were investigated — and play out in court.

Some of the details in the case hint that police will present a case of what’s commonly called “homegrown terrorism,” meaning Canadian citizens who become radicalized in the West and then often seek connections and training abroad.

Reacting to the arrests, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the case shows “Canada is not immune from international or homegrown radicalization.”

“Our government monitors national security concerns and is vigilant in protecting against any threats,” spokesperson Christopher McCluskey said.

“As for operational security matters, and matters currently under police investigation, we cannot further comment at this time.”


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## jollyjacktar

kratz said:
			
		

> Thanks to The Star, we now know one of the suspects was a contestant on Canadian Idol.
> 
> Complete with photo of Khuram Sher



 :rofl:  But then, my wife tells me I sound like a Crow.  So, I'll toss small stones.


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## medicineman

I guess we know what a potential target was then  :nod:.

MM


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## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:


Terrorism suspects accused of bomb plot: RCMP

26/08/2010 3:09:31 PM
CBC News 


LINK

*The RCMP have charged three Ontario men for allegedly taking part in a domestic plot, and possessing plans and materials related to creating makeshift bombs.*

RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault said Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, and Hiva Alizadeh, 30, both of Ottawa, and 28-year-old Khurram Sher of London were involved in a conspiracy to commit "a violent terrorism attack."

Therriault alleged at a news conference in Ottawa that the men conspired with three men, who they named as James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta, as well as persons unknown in Canada and in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Dubai to commit terrorism-related offences.

*Suspect trained in IED construction*

He said the RCMP investigation, dubbed Project Samosa, found evidence to support the fact one member of the group has also taken training that provided him with the knowledge to construct electronic and explosive devices.

Investigators seized more than 50 electronic circuit boards designed specifically to remotely detonate improvised explosive devices (IEDs), said Therriault.

"This group posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of the National Capital Region and Canada's national security," he said.

"Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism," he said.

Alizadeh, Ahmed and Sher have been charged with conspiracy to knowingly facilitate a terrorist activity under the Criminal Code.

Alizadeh is also charged with being in possession of an explosive substance with intent to harm, and providing property or financial services for the benefit of a terrorist group.

Investigators conducted "extensive surveillance" of the suspects during the year-long investigation, Therriault said.

He said investigators have grounds to believe that the three men are "part of a domestic terrorist group" operating in Canada.

Investigators said they have reason to believe Alizadeh is a member of, and in contact with, a terrorist group with links to the conflict in Afghanistan, but declined to name the group.

Therriault said part of the decision to make the arrests now was to prevent one of the suspects from providing financial support to terrorist counterparts abroad.

*2 men in Ottawa court*

Ahmed and Alizadeh, both arrested on Wednesday, made a brief court appearance on Thursday and were remanded into custody until their next appearance, on Sept. 1.

Sher, who police believe auditioned for the Canadian Idol singing competition, was arrested on Thursday in London in southwestern Ontario.

*All three men are Canadian citizens.*

According to court documents, Alizadeh lived in Manitoba for some time and attended Red River College before coming to Ontario.

The college confirms one student with the name Hiva Alizadeh studied English as a second language in 2003-04 and electrical engineering from 2008-09. 

The synopsis of the case said Alizadeh had been under surveillance for some time, and had met with other accused at his home and other locales. He was recorded discussing various terror-related topics, including the Toronto 18 case, and they talked about security certificates, and cell structure, it's alleged.

Alizadeh also allegedly went to Iran for several months, according to court documents.




Another view:  LINK to CTV version of article>


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## George Wallace

Courthouse lawyer interviews
 Media interview the lawyers representing terror suspects outside the courthouse.


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## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Police to hold talks with Ottawa's Muslim leaders
Community meeting aims to defuse tension after arrests of suspected terrorists

By Jennifer Green, The Ottawa Citizen 
August 26, 2010 3:27 PM 

LINK


OTTAWA — Prominent members of Ottawa’s Muslim community will meet with a team that specializes in defusing police-community tensions to allay fears and explain why the RCMP arrested two men suspected of planning a terrorist attack on Canada. 

The time, place, and attendees of the meeting are not being revealed, but Ottawa police say their goal is “to meet with COMPAC members and other community leaders … and engage them on the matter.”

COMPAC stands for the Community and Police Action Committee, which brings together police, visible minorities and aboriginals for regular meetings, so some trust has already been built when incidents like Wednesday’s arrests strain relations.

COMPAC has critical incident teams trained to defuse any escalating concerns. 

Ferrukh Faraqui, a member of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, and a board member of the Ottawa Muslim Women’s Organization, said the meeting is a good idea. “That could only help allay fears and reduce unnecessary tension.”

While many Muslims would feel comfortable with government authority, others emigrating from war-torn countries may be more wary. 

The news of the arrests Wednesday was particularly jarring for Ottawa’s 65,000 Muslims, as they were celebrating the 15th day of Ramadan, a period of fasting, and reflection.

“Given the history of … others caught up in overzealous activity of the authorities in the wake of 9/11, you can only wait and hope that when the details emerge, that the arrests were justified,” said Faraqui. “The police are only doing their job and we depend on them to keep us safe. We hope … that the people who need to be caught are caught and that innocent people don’t get caught up.”

Faraqui takes a longer view of the tensions around Islam and terrorism. “We live in interesting times. The times aren’t comfortable; they were when I was growing up, but they’re not anymore and that’s just reality.” 

Neighbours often saw one of the men arrested walking with a woman wearing a full black niqab, with only a slit for her eyes. 

“Naturally that plays into fear,” Faraqui said. “My personal belief is that covering your face is entirely unnecessary… . On the other hand, if this is something that this person believes is her right, then … it’s a very difficult terrain to negotiate, rights versus responsibilities to the greater society.”

Imam Zijad Delic, executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, said all the national Muslim associations are waiting for more information. “We have to know what’s going on before we speak.

“At this point, the healthiest way to approach the issue is to listen to what the RCMP say. We trust our Canadian agencies and, if it happens that we have to raise our voices, we would raise our voices, and it would be heard quite a lot in Canada.”

Delic, who signed the Canadian Council of Imams’ declaration against terrorism, said: “If anyone knew of such activities, it is not just their social responsibility to report such a case, it is their religious responsibility.”

Azhar Ali Khan, a long-time Ottawa community activist, said in an e-mail: “Being a good Muslim is the same thing as being a good Canadian.” Khan added that “many Muslims believe that the U.S. policy in Muslim countries is exploitative and harmful; for example, its attack on Iraq. But Canada has nothing to do with these policies. It is true that Canada is engaged in the war in Afghanistan. But Canada is not in Afghanistan to exploit its people or to build an empire. It is there to help the Afghan government and people fight extremism. 

“Even so, many Canadians, and not just Muslim Canadians, oppose Canada’s participation … and favour the withdrawal of Canadian troops. Whatever the views of any Canadian on the Afghan war, he or she could express his or her viewpoint openly. There can be no excuse to indulge in harmful conduct. This cannot be accepted or tolerated.”

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen


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## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Arrests a 'serious problem' for Canadian Muslims
CTV

LINK

*A prominent Canadian Muslim group is calling for the condemnation of the doctrine of armed jihad and says there is a "serious problem" with radicalized Canadian youth in light of the recent terror arrests in Ottawa.*

"This is not something that comes as a total surprise . . . we have a problem," Raheel Raza of the Muslim Canadian Congress told CTV.ca Thursday. "There is a serious problem among Canadian Muslim youth and if we don't address this now, it can culminate into something dangerous." 

The Muslim Canadian Congress says that the accused must be treated with the presumption of innocence, but Raza says the situation can be used to open a dialogue on radicalization within the Muslim community. 

"We have to stand up and tackle this," she said, adding that she thinks the community needs to start asking itself tough questions about the radicalization of some youths and where those messages are coming from. 

Despite the recent controversy in the United States regarding the "Ground Zero" mosque, Raza says that she is not worried about a backlash against Canadian Muslims, saying there will always be "hate-mongers." 

"There are always going to be bigots, we can't stop speaking out against radicalization just because we are afraid of a few bigots and hate-mongers," the outspoken activist and author said. "Those people who are sensible . . . will understand what we are talking about." 

Raza added that she knows she is not being "politically correct" but says she is speaking out because she "loves my faith and my country." 

The Canadian Jewish Congress commended the Muslim Canadian Congress for its statement. 

"We are heartened by the statements of the Muslim Canadian Congress . . . calling for Muslim leadership in Canada to condemn irrefutably the doctrine of armed jihad and for the 'mosque establishment' to acknowledge and repudiate the serious threat of homegrown extremism," CEO Bernie Farber said in a statement Thursday. 

The Canadian Islamic Congress, one of Canada's largest Muslim organizations, said they are waiting for more information before commenting on the story. 

Imam Zijad Delic, executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, told CTV.ca that leaders would be discussing the case with the RCMP and commenting Thursday evening. 

The Muslim Canadian Congress is considered a liberal Muslim organization, but recently announced its opposition to the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. 

"We believe the proposal has been made in bad faith and, in Islamic parlance, is creating 'fitna,' meaning 'mischief-making,' an act clearly forbidden in the Qur'an," the group said in a statement.


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## sean m

Well hopefully they can get this problem sorted out since this is not the first time this threat has occurred here. It is too bad that people have an opportunity to come to a country like this and desire to do harm. It seems that CSIS has not gotten enough praise for their part in breakin up this plot since they provided the information.





			
				George Wallace said:
			
		

> Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:
> 
> Arrests a 'serious problem' for Canadian Muslims
> CTV
> 
> LINK
> 
> *A prominent Canadian Muslim group is calling for the condemnation of the doctrine of armed jihad and says there is a "serious problem" with radicalized Canadian youth in light of the recent terror arrests in Ottawa.*
> 
> "This is not something that comes as a total surprise . . . we have a problem," Raheel Raza of the Muslim Canadian Congress told CTV.ca Thursday. "There is a serious problem among Canadian Muslim youth and if we don't address this now, it can culminate into something dangerous."
> 
> The Muslim Canadian Congress says that the accused must be treated with the presumption of innocence, but Raza says the situation can be used to open a dialogue on radicalization within the Muslim community.
> 
> "We have to stand up and tackle this," she said, adding that she thinks the community needs to start asking itself tough questions about the radicalization of some youths and where those messages are coming from.
> 
> Despite the recent controversy in the United States regarding the "Ground Zero" mosque, Raza says that she is not worried about a backlash against Canadian Muslims, saying there will always be "hate-mongers."
> 
> "There are always going to be bigots, we can't stop speaking out against radicalization just because we are afraid of a few bigots and hate-mongers," the outspoken activist and author said. "Those people who are sensible . . . will understand what we are talking about."
> 
> Raza added that she knows she is not being "politically correct" but says she is speaking out because she "loves my faith and my country."
> 
> The Canadian Jewish Congress commended the Muslim Canadian Congress for its statement.
> 
> "We are heartened by the statements of the Muslim Canadian Congress . . . calling for Muslim leadership in Canada to condemn irrefutably the doctrine of armed jihad and for the 'mosque establishment' to acknowledge and repudiate the serious threat of homegrown extremism," CEO Bernie Farber said in a statement Thursday.
> 
> The Canadian Islamic Congress, one of Canada's largest Muslim organizations, said they are waiting for more information before commenting on the story.
> 
> Imam Zijad Delic, executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, told CTV.ca that leaders would be discussing the case with the RCMP and commenting Thursday evening.
> 
> The Muslim Canadian Congress is considered a liberal Muslim organization, but recently announced its opposition to the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York.
> 
> "We believe the proposal has been made in bad faith and, in Islamic parlance, is creating 'fitna,' meaning 'mischief-making,' an act clearly forbidden in the Qur'an," the group said in a statement.


----------



## MarkOttawa

Post at _Unambiguously Ambidextrous_:

“Terrorism”: _Globe and Mail_ reporters still at it/_Toronto Star_ does point the finger
http://unambig.com/terrorism-globe-and-mail-reporters-still-at-ittoronto-star-does-point-the-finger/

Mark
Ottawa


----------



## TimBit

kratz said:
			
		

> Thanks to The Star, we now know one of the suspects was a contestant on Canadian Idol.
> 
> Complete with photo of Khuram Sher



Let me get this straight:
This jihadi, who presumably espouses radical islamist views, wishes to blow up Parliament, amongst other mischiefs, to condemn the imperialist decadent liberal west, yet enjoys music and dancing and the freedom to apply for a hyper-commercialized boring TV show made to dumb down masses?

I say, take the dude and give him a paid vacation in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or northern Pakistan and let`s see if he still thinks the same of FUNdamental Islam, AFTER they beat him for 1. dancing. 2. singing. 3. ever thinking of freedom as a concept and 4. criticizing the government and taking up arms against it.

Moron.  :rage:


----------



## dapaterson

Clear proof that if you watch Canadian Idol, you support terrorism.


Hmm... and also proof that there are links to Canada's political class.  Host of Canadian Idol?  The son of a former prime minister.

This is big.  I'm going to need to reinforce my tinfoil hat over this one.


----------



## MGB

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

*Fourth * Terror suspect Arrested in Ottawa
ctv.ca 
Friday, August 27, 2010 

CTV News has learned that a fourth suspect has been arrested in connection with a year-long terror investigation that has already led to charges against three Canadian men in Ottawa. 

The latest arrest occured early this morning in Ottawa, but the person in custody has so far not been charged. 

Earlier in the day, Dr. Khurram Syed Sher, of London. Ont., was charged with conspiracy to facilitate terrorist activity in the case where police alleged 50 seized circuit boards were going to be used to remotely detonated bombs. He's been ordered to return Sept. 1 via video link. 

The court appearance is a long way from his bizarre appearance on Canadian Idol two years. Speaking with a Pakistani accent, he told judges he came to Canada from Pakistan a few years before. 

However, the McGill medical school graduate was born in Montreal and has no accent. Friends say he went on the program as a joke.


----------



## George Wallace

"The man next door."  Basically describes these men.


Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Men next door: Profiles of terrorism suspects
27/08/2010 1:13:12 PM
CTV.ca News Staff 

LINK

*Police remain skittish on what led them to arrest at least three alleged terror suspects in Ontario earlier this week, and the public details of their lives are no less confusing. *

They are Canadian citizens and all lead model middle-to-upper class lives. All three are married with children, and friends and neighbours say they never suspected anything. 

There is little in their background to indicate radical religious or political views and why they may have wanted to hurt their fellow citizens. Their background leaves more questions than answers. 
  
*Hiva Alizadeh, 30* 

The alleged ringleader the terror plot according to police, he immigrated to Winnipeg from Iran, to join his uncle, a local cab driver. 

He enrolled in an electrical engineering program at Red River College in 2008-2009. 

A teacher there said Alizadeh was respectful and hard-working but dropped out in the first term. Previously he attended the same school to study English as an additional language. 

In Winnipeg, he worked in a halal meat shop where his employer said he was a hard worker, the Globe and Mail reported. 

He married a local girl in Winnipeg, who converted to Islam, and the couple have two young children. 

Alizadeh moved to Ottawa about a year-and-a-half ago. 

*Khurram Syed Sher, 28* 

Sher was born in Montreal and earned a medical degree at McGill University by the age of 23. He recently took a job as a pathologist at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital in St. Thomas, Ont., just south of London. His employers say he came "highly recommended." 

Infamously, he appeared on Canadian Idol wearing traditional Pakistani clothing, sporting a fake Pakistani accent, saying he just moved to Canada in 2005. He performed an off-key rendition of Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" and moonwalked. "Have you ever thought of being a comedian?" a judge asked. 

Friends said he put on the performance as a joke. 

Sher travelled to Pakistan in 2006, to assist with in relief efforts after an earthquake and was praised in the House of Commons for his humanitarian work. 

Sher was also an avid hockey fan, participating in a number of ball hockey tournaments in Montreal. 

He is also listed as the director of the RS Foundation, a registered non-profit for children in South Asia. 

Sher is married with three children. His marriage was arranged, and his wife lives in Windsor, Ont. with her parents, where she is battling health problems. 

*Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26* 

Ahmed was an X-ray technician and worked at The Ottawa Hospital's Civic Campus. Four months ago, his employers were informed CSIS was investigating him. 

For years he played in a Muslim charity ball hockey tournament in Montreal, where Sher also played. One year, they were on the same team. 

He is married with a seven-month-old daughter. 

Ahmed moved from Montreal to Ottawa two years ago. He was raised in Canada, his friends say.


----------



## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Fourth arrest in alleged terrorist plot, RCMP confirms
27/08/2010 2:46:39 PM
CTV.ca News Staff 


LINK

*A fourth suspect has been arrested in connection with a year-long terror investigation that has already led to charges against three Canadian men in Ottawa, RCMP confirmed Friday.
*
A man was the fourth to be arrested, early reports indicated, as authorities executed a search warrant in Ottawa. No charges have been laid in the arrest, the RCMP said in a statement released Friday afternoon.

"Additional investigative work will continue in the coming days," the statement said.

There is no word on whether the person is one of three additional conspirators who are still being sought by police. 

Court appearance for third suspect 

Earlier Friday, Dr. Khurram Syed Sher, of London, Ont., was charged with conspiracy to facilitate terrorist activity in the case where police alleged 50 seized circuit boards were going to be used to remotely detonated bombs. 

The justice ordered him to return Sept. 1 via video link. 

The court appearance is a long way from his bizarre appearance on Canadian Idol two years. Speaking with a Pakistani accent, he told judges he came to Canada from Pakistan a few years before. 

However, the McGill medical school graduate was born in Montreal and has no accent. Friends say he went on the program as a joke. 

"Friends say he's a fun-loving, hockey-loving guy who they can't believe been accused of being a terrorist," CTV's Roger Smith reported from Ottawa Friday. 

Sher was an anatomical pathologist at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital in St. Thomas, Ont., just south of London. 

CTV Montreal's Rob Lurie reported that Sher is listed in a Quebec business directory as a director of a group called RS Foundation, which raises money for aid in Pakistan. 

RS Foundation spokesperson Arssal Shahabuddin said the organization is legitimate and its members are shocked that Sher has been linked to such allegations. 

"I am as shocked as anybody else is, but it's very early, we don't have all the details, I'm shocked and we'll see what happens," Shahabuddin told CTV Montreal by telephone. 

Investigation reveals details of alleged terror group 

Police revealed Thursday that "Project Samossa" had prompted the arrests of Ottawa residents Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh and Misbahuddin Ahmed, along with Sher. 

Police allege all three were part of a homegrown terror group that "posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of the National Capital Region and Canada's national security," RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault said Thursday, when describing the lengthy investigation that led to the arrests. 

In court, they have been formally accused of plotting with three others to "knowingly facilitate terrorist activities" on Canadian soil and elsewhere. The charges laid against them say their conspiracy was carried out in Ottawa, Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan. 

While keeping a relatively tight lid on the details of the still-developing case, the Mounties said they had seized electronic circuit boards that could have been used to make bomb detonators, as well as apparent terrorist literature. 

Police suspect an attack was at least months away but they made the arrests because they thought the suspects were about to start sending funds to terrorists in Afghanistan. 

Suspects with education, opportunity 

Early reports have revealed Ahmed and Sher had professional jobs in health care at the time of their respective arrests, while Alizadeh had previously studied electrical engineering technology and English as an additional language at Winnipeg's Red River College. 

While some have been shocked that educated Canadians with seemingly bright futures could have alleged involvement in terrorist activities, former CSIS agent Michel Juneau-Katsuya said their backgrounds are not surprising. 

"Unfortunately, this is sort of a textbook copy of the profile that usually we would expect," Juneau-Katsuya told CTV's Canada AM during a telephone interview from Ottawa on Friday morning. 

"We're talking about born and raised kids that grew up in this society," Juneau-Katsuya said, pointing out that the background of the three arrested men that is contrary to a perception that terror suspects are likely to be poor or disenfranchised and foreign born. 

Author and Muslim Canadian Congress board member Raheel Raza told CTV News Channel that "it's no longer the socially unempowered or the people dying in poverty who are the radicals, but it is educated people. Because they have the minds and the sense and the genius to plan such grotesque events." 

Terrorism expert Alan Bell said that Canadians who become involved in terror are far more difficult to detect than their foreign counterparts. 

"For a terrorist to come to Canada and try to perpetrate an attack is very difficult," Bell told CTV's Canada AM during an interview in Toronto on Friday morning. 

But when Canadians can quietly be radicalized, the threat becomes much more dangerous. 

"They are operating underneath the radar, doing everyday jobs, and now all of a sudden they get arrested and that's the first time everyone knows about it," said Bell.  

Canadian targets 

The recent arrests of the terror suspects have also refocused public attention on the fact that Canada "is certainly not immune to potential attacks," as Raymond Boisvert, the assistant director of CSIS, said Thursday. 

Bell said that Canada's open society makes it a target for terrorist attacks, as does the country's involvement in the war in Afghanistan. 

"We're one of the very few countries that embarked on the war against terrorism years ago, but has not been attacked yet," he said. 

While authorities have declined to provide specifics, there has been speculation that the some of Ottawa's more well-known landmarks may have been among the alleged targets, said Juneau-Katsuya. 

"There is more and more speculation that one of the prime targets that they were going for was definitely the Parliament Hill," he said, echoing other sources that have made the same suggestion about the group's alleged targets. 

With files from The Canadian Press


----------



## George Wallace

Speculation by CBC Reporters:

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Bomb plot probe leads to 4th arrest
27/08/2010 3:06:06 PM
CBC News 


LINK


*Police say they have arrested a fourth person in their investigation into an alleged domestic terrorist plot, but no charges have been laid.*

Earlier Friday in Ottawa, the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team "executed one search warrant and took one person into custody as part of our standard operating procedures in the course of the search," said RCMP spokesman Marc Ménard. "No charges against this individual have been laid."

Menard said police would not release any person's name until charges have been laid.

But a police source told CBC News the individual arrested, who was identified as a man, is not likely to be charged. The source told CBC News there does not appear to be enough evidence for a charge and police are unlikely to hold the individual under anti-terrorism legislation.

Authorities have arrested and charged three Ontario men in what the RCMP is calling a conspiracy to commit "a violent terrorism attack."

Earlier Friday, Khurram Sher, 28, of London, Ont., was remanded in custody until Sept. 1 after a brief court appearance. He was charged Thursday with conspiracy to knowingly facilitate a terrorist activity.

Two Ottawa men, Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, and Hiva Alizadeh, 30, were arrested on Wednesday. They appeared in an Ottawa courtroom on Thursday facing the same charge.

Alizadeh is also charged with being in possession of an explosive substance with intent to harm and providing property or financial services for the benefit of a terrorist group.

The men discussed specific targets in Canada, according to security sources CBC spoke with, including specific government buildings and transit systems, but didn't mention any of those targets by name.

Former senior CSIS officer Michel Juneau-Katsuya told CBC News his sources had said Parliament Hill was among the targets discussed. Juneau-Katsuya also suggested Montreal's transit system was a possible target because two of the men had roots in the city, and had lived and studied there.

None of the targets was in the United States, sources said.

During a Thursday news conference, RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault said part of the decision to make the arrests now was to prevent one of the suspects from providing financial support to terrorist counterparts abroad.

The RCMP investigation, dubbed Project Samosa, found evidence that one member of the group had been trained to construct electronic and explosive devices.

Alleged plan to build makeshift bombs

During their investigation, Therriault said, police seized more than 50 electronic circuit boards they say were designed specifically to remotely detonate improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

CBC News has learned that the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team knew about the circuit boards some time ago - for perhaps months or at least many weeks.

The team obtained a warrant to enter Alizadeh's apartment and surreptitiously and removed the boards, replacing them with look-alikes that were duds. Therefore any attack would likely have failed.

Therriault said they also seized a vast quantity of terrorist literature, videos and manuals.

"This group posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of the National Capital Region and Canada's national security," he said.

The RCMP allege that the year-long investigation turned up evidence that the three men conspired with three other men, whom they named as James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta (who Reuters reported are not in Canada), and other unnamed individuals in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Dubai to commit terrorism-related offences.

A security source told CBC News that the men mostly communicated over the internet. But according to a document seen by CBC News, police made surveillance recordings at the Ottawa townhouse rented by Misbahuddin Ahmed.

People were allegedly overheard praying together and talking about Canada's anti-terrorism law, the structure of terror cells and the so-called Toronto 18.

Investigators said they have reason to believe Hiva Alizadeh is a member of, and in contact with, a terrorist group with links to the conflict in Afghanistan but declined to name the group.

Suspects are educated professionals

All three suspects arrested are educated men pursuing professional careers. Police said Sher is a McGill medical graduate who travelled to Pakistan in 2006 to help with earthquake relief and also auditioned for the Canadian Idol singing competition in the past.

Ahmed worked as an X-ray technician at an Ottawa hospital and had a wife and child, while Alizadeh had studied to be an electrical engineer. All three men are Canadian citizens.

Their profiles are likely to raise concerns about homegrown radicalism, said security expert Eric Margolis, who said the roots of the radicalism are likely triggered by anger over the involvement of Western governments in countries such as Afghanistan.


----------



## ModlrMike

George Wallace said:
			
		

> Their profiles are likely to raise concerns about homegrown radicalism...




A strongly held misconception by the public that all terrorists are idiots. In truth, most of the serious operators are highly educated.


----------



## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Ottawa mosque discusses fallout of arrests
27/08/2010 9:05:38 PM
CBC News 


LINK

*Muslims packed an Ottawa mosque Friday to discuss the fallout from the arrest of several Muslim men who police allege were involved in a terrorist plot believed to be linked to Islamic fundamentalism.*

There were so many worshipers at the Ottawa Mosque that some people had to pray outside.

Inside, the talk was of peace, attendees said as they left.

Imam Khaled Abdul-Hamid Syed appealed to Muslim youth to avoid terrorism and other criminal activities.

One worshipper said the discussion had been about "how to be a Muslim and a Canadian."

People who condemn all Muslims based on the actions of a few "don't understand the religion. Islam is all about peace," another said. 

RCMP arrested four individuals this week in connection with their investigation into a domestic terrorist plot.

Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, and Hiva Alizadeh, 30, both of Ottawa, and Khurram Sher, 28, of London, Ont., have all been charged with conspiracy to knowingly facilitate a terrorist activity.

Alizadeh is also charged with being in possession of an explosive substance with intent to harm and providing property or financial services for the benefit of a terrorist group.

A fourth person was arrested in Ottawa Friday in connection with the same investigation but has as yet not been charged.

*Police meet community leaders*

In the wake of the arrests, police in Ottawa have reached out to Muslim groups in the city to reduce concerns about profiling.

More than 30 leaders from the Muslim community met with RCMP Thursday night.

The chair of the RCMP Cultural Diversity Committee said in light of the arrests, police wanted to see if the community had any concerns.

"It's just to open the lines of communication within the communities, to dispel any rumours," said Cpl. Wayne Russett, the RCMP's aboriginal and ethnic liaison officer in Ottawa.

Local Muslim leaders like Safaa Fouda said they were worried the men arrested this week were unfairly targeted.

"My worst fear is that these people were just arrested because the way they look or behave," Fouda said.

But Russett said that was not the case and that the suspects' religion and ethnicity were not an issue.

"These people were arrested and charged for a criminal activity," he said. "This is strictly a criminal investigation."

Some people left Thursday's meeting feeling reassured. 

"Really, this is a very important issue in terms of thanking the police and telling them we are very grateful that they are protecting us," one participant said.

But not everyone was satisfied. An official with the Muslim Canadian Congress said everyone should have been invited.

"It is the larger community at risk, so bring everybody in," the official said. 

The RCMP is planning a similar meeting open to the general public on Monday.


----------



## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Terrorism suspect interned in East Jerusalem
CBC News 


LINK

*Former colleagues of a suspect in a domestic terrorism plot who spent three weeks interning at a hospital in East Jerusalem in 2008 say they're skeptical of the accusations against him.*

Khurram Syed Sher, 28, of London, Ont., was arrested last week and is one of three men accused of conspiring to facilitate terrorism with others in Canada, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Dubai over the past two years.

Sher spent three weeks in June 2008 doing an elective rotation in the pathology department of the Maqassed hospital as part of his medical studies at McGill University. The hospital is the primary-care facility for Palestinians from Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

Sher's former supervisor and co-workers said they were stunned to hear of the charges laid against him.

"I don't believe that Khurram is a bad man, never," said Dr. Barkat Sharabati, a pathologist.

"He's very quiet, very nice ... and he's professional," Sharabati said.

The doctor said he spent a lot of time with Sher, including having him to his home in Hebron for dinner.

Naifa Dawod, a lab technician who worked with Sher, said she was shocked to hear of the allegations against him.

"What I remember about him, he is a good guy," said Dawod. "And he work, you know, faithfully and work hard, and he likes his job."

Hospital officials also told CBC News that Sher sent a small donation to the hospital, although administrators said that is a common practice.

Sher, and two other accused men - Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, both of Ottawa - are scheduled to return to court on Sept. 1.


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## MarkOttawa

Post at _Unambiguously Ambidextrous_, with material from Terry Glavin, Adrian MacNair and me (and a link to some journalistic funny stuff regarding Mickey I. and terrorism trials):

Haroon the Magnificent and “homegrown” terrorism, Take 2/”true allegiance” *Update thought*
http://unambig.com/haroon-the-magnificent-take-2/

Mark
Ottawa


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## Edward Campbell

We too often complain that _moderate Muslims_ do not 'stand up and denounce terrorism.' Here, reproduced under he Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from the _Ottawa Citizen_, is an opinion piece from two who do and who get to the nub of the _problems_:


http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/struggle+against+jihad/3462217/story.html


> The struggle against jihad
> *While Muslim parents pack public meetings with pronouncements that 'Islam is a religion of peace,' their sons and daughters are being taught something else*
> 
> By Tarek Fatah and Salma Siddiqui, Citizen Special August 31, 2010
> 
> No sooner did news of the Ottawa Terror Plot unfold on national TV, than one could predict the response of Canada's Islamists and their organizations.
> 
> Across Canada, apologists of the terror suspects repeated the same mantra. The three men arrested were portrayed as "innocent" and the wider Muslim community was positioned as the real victims of the episode. It was as if the Islamist leadership had dusted off the speaking notes from the days of the Toronto 18 trials when leader after leader stood up to claim the young men arrested were framed, not real terrorists.
> 
> As Muslim Canadians, both of us, while asking for the due judicial process to take its course, had no hesitation in condemning the rising tide of jihadi radicalism that is sweeping like a contagious disease among Muslim youth, especially of Pakistani ancestry, across Canada. However, by and large the leadership of traditional Islamist organizations and the mosque establishment repeated the now tired and cliché-ridden depiction of Muslims as the real victims.
> 
> Not a single imam that we have heard has mustered the courage to say, "The doctrine of armed jihad is defunct and inapplicable in the 21st century." Instead the same tired old clichés were repeated about Islam being a religion of peace and denouncing terrorism, while keeping mum about jihad.
> 
> Saira Rahman, a filmmaker, told the Winnipeg Free Press, "It's so very frustrating. It's very unfair -- you're demonizing communities again and creating a situation where everyone's guilty till proven innocent." She was not alone in being in denial.
> 
> From Ottawa, the epicentre of the latest terror threat, Nazira Tareen of the Ottawa Muslim Women's Organization wrote, "99.9 per cent of them (Muslims) are law abiding, hardworking, peace loving, caring and contributing citizens of Canada. ... I personally know all the imams of all the mosques in the Nation's Capital Region and all of them are totally against this type of behaviour. We are unanimous in condemning this type of behaviour." Again condemning "behaviour," but has nothing useful to say about the underlying jihadi ideology.
> 
> Obviously Tareen was not aware of the Environics Poll of 2007 that found 12 per cent of Canada's Muslims having a favourable disposition towards the Toronto 18 terrorists and 14 per cent who identified themselves with "extremists" within the Muslim community.
> 
> This means there could be as many as 100,000 Muslim Canadians who are hostile to Canada and western civilization. A scary number by any measure.
> 
> If individual Muslim Canadians were pushing the victimhood agenda, their organizations were doing no better. The Canadian Islamic Congress, which supported the introduction of Shariah law in Canada, issued a statement saying:
> 
> "Canadian Muslims, more than other citizens, are deeply concerned and disturbed ... especially about the psychological, social and emotional impact of these arrests on the wellbeing of Canadian Muslims." One was left scratching one's head: What about non-Muslim Canadians who were allegedly the real targets of these suspected terrorists? The CIC statement went further. It expressed concern about "how these arrests would be managed in Canada and what kind of impact the media reports will have on Canadian citizens of Muslim faith." Added to the spin was the accusation of journalistic "sensationalism, prejudgment, or speculation."
> 
> Unfortunately, the Muslim victimhood agenda was helped by the leader of the Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, who stepped into the fray by claiming that the terror suspects need to be treated as innocent. He then made this outrageous remark: "It's important for Canadians to realize in the Toronto case, the courts acquitted many people."
> 
> Not true, Mr. Ignatieff. While charges were dropped in some cases, not a single member of the Toronto terror plot tried by the courts was acquitted. Everyone who was tried before the court was either convicted or confessed. As card-carrying Liberals, we were shocked to read how our leader was buying in to the Islamist agenda.
> 
> The Ottawa arrests have links to a Montreal Mosque, another hotbed of Islamist activity. Two of the suspects attended the Islamic Community Centre Mosque in Brossard. At the mosque too the men in charge were on the defensive, claiming no knowledge of any extremist activity.
> 
> Faisal Shahabuddin, a member of the mosque's board when asked to explain how two members of the congregation had allegedly gotten themselves involved in the terror plot, stated, "Why should I explain if we don't know it's true?"
> 
> However, this Montreal suburban mosque has had a history of Islamist activity. In September 2005, the leadership of the same mosque targeted fellow Muslim Fatima Houda-Pepin, member of the Quebec National Assembly, because she had dared to oppose Shariah law and was instrumental in moving a unanimous resolution against introducing Islamic law in Quebec.
> 
> She was intimidated and told the congregation would work to defeat her in the next elections. She won hands down. Responding to the bullying by the mosque, Fatima Houda-Pepin said, "We must not underestimate the threat posed by fundamentalists on women and the justice system."
> 
> Muslims of Ottawa are not new to the involvement of their sons in terrorism. Most are aware of the conviction of Momin Khawaja, yet continue to treat him as a victim and martyr.
> 
> The jihad that Momin Khawaja talked about in his musings is the armed jihad of warfare as clearly enunciated by such 20th-century Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood as Syed Qutb and Hassan al-Banna and Pakistan's Syed Maudoodi. It is this triad who are the ideological gurus of the world Islamist movements whose works are fanning the flames of armed jihad around the world.
> 
> As you read this column, young Islamists in campuses across Canada are distributing free booklets titled Towards Understanding Islam, written by Maudoodi. In the booklet, Maudoodi exhorts ordinary Muslims to launch jihad, as in armed struggle, against non-Muslims.
> 
> "Jihad is part of this overall defence of Islam," he writes. In case the reader is left with any doubt about the meaning of the word "jihad," Maudoodi clarifies: "In the language of the Divine Law, this word (jihad) is used specifically for the war that is waged solely in the name of God against those who perpetrate oppression as enemies of Islam. This supreme sacrifice is the responsibility of all Muslims."
> 
> Maudoodi goes on to label Muslims who refuse the call to armed jihad as apostates:
> 
> "Jihad is as much a primary duty as are daily prayers or fasting. One who avoids it is a sinner. His every claim to being a Muslim is doubtful. He is plainly a hypocrite who fails in the test of sincerity and all his acts of worship are a sham, a worthless, hollow show of deception." If Muslim countries do not go to war against the enemies of Islam, Maudoodi says a worldwide uprising by ordinary Muslims is the answer. He writes: "Muslims of the whole world must fight the common enemy."
> 
> If Maudoodi's exhortations to jihad are not enough, we have the words of the late Hassan al-Banna being distributed in our schools and universities. Al-Banna makes it quite clear that the word "jihad" means armed conflict. He mocks those who claim jihad is merely an internal struggle; al-Banna says this redefinition of the term "jihad" is a conspiracy so that "Muslims should become negligent."
> 
> While their parents pack public meetings with pronouncements that "Islam is a religion of peace," their sons and daughters are being taught something else.
> 
> Here is what Qutb, another Egyptian stalwart of the Islamist movement and the Muslim Brotherhood, writes in his seminal work on Islam and its relationship with the West, Milestones:
> 
> "Any place where Islamic Shariah is not enforced and where Islam is not dominant becomes the Home of Hostility (Dar-ul-Harb or the West). ... A Muslim will remain prepared to fight against it, whether it be his birthplace or a place where his relatives reside or where his property or any other material interests are located."
> 
> Unless the leaders of Canadian mosques as well as the Islamic organizations denounce the doctrine of jihad as pronounced by the Muslim Brotherhood, and distance themselves from the ideology of Qutb, al-Banna and Maudoodi, their chant that "Islam means peace" will fall on deaf ears.
> 
> It will merely reinforce the suspicions of many Canadians who feel some overseas groups are pulling the strings in this carefully staged puppet show.
> 
> _Tarek Fatah is the author of_ The Jew is Not My Enemy (McClelland & Stewart)_ and a host on NewsTalk 1010 Radio in Toronto. Salma Siddiqui is vice-president of the Muslim Canadian Congress and is a businesswoman in Ottawa._
> 
> © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen​




There are two fundamental _problems_ that I perceive with Islam in Canada:

1.The _jihadi_ brand of Islam, which seems to be most popular with many (most?) imans is quite incompatible with our, Canadian, system of secular, liberal democracy; and

2._Victimhood_ is being used as a reason to ignore, if not excuse, violent acts against Canada and Canadians.

Neither can be _tolerated_ in a “free and democratic society”, no matter how _tolerant_ we may wish to be. Muslims are, of course, free to believe that their religion offers them a 'life system' that obviates the need for earthly, secular governments but they have no right to try to impose that belief on the rest of us. Equally, Muslims are free to feel victimized but that feeling cannot be used to excuse calls for or acts of violence.

Islam, in Canada, is in dire need of a _reformation_.


----------



## jollyjacktar

I listened to a radio interview Friday past on CBC with the head of the Canadian Islamic Congress on what is happening and what to do.  He is dead set against these Jihadists and what they stand for.  He felt that the threat is not being taken seriously enough by the authorties here.  Nice to hear someone talk out loud and clear from that Religon on this subject.


----------



## OldSolduer

jollyjacktar said:
			
		

> I listened to a radio interview Friday past on CBC with the head of the Canadian Islamic Congress on what is happening and what to do.  He is dead set against these Jihadists and what they stand for.  He felt that the threat is not being taken seriously enough by the authorties here.  Nice to hear someone talk out loud and clear from that Religon on this subject.


As opposed to one of our local Islam representatives here in Winnipeg.


----------



## jollyjacktar

Jim Seggie said:
			
		

> As opposed to one of our local Islam representatives here in Winnipeg.



He was of the opinion IIRC that there are elements out there in that community that are trying to radicalize young people and used the term IIRC "a real and present danger".  He felt there should be a more proactive approach in dealing with it and nipping it in the bud as it were.  Also, he feels that the proposed Mosque near Ground Zero is a bad idea and will only serve to inflame feelings and is mischief making.  Don't remember if the show was "As it Happens", but I believe it was.  The broadcast should be on the CBC Radio site at any rate and is worth listening to.

The local community here have been keeping a low profile and to my knowledge have not commented these "alleged" terrorist wannabes.


----------



## Jarnhamar

jollyjacktar said:
			
		

> I listened to a radio interview Friday past on CBC with the head of the Canadian Islamic Congress on what is happening and what to do. * He is dead set against these Jihadists and what they stand for.*  He felt that the threat is not being taken seriously enough by the authorties here.  Nice to hear someone talk out loud and clear from that Religon on this subject.



 :


----------



## jollyjacktar

The radio interview is here.  

OTTAWA TERRORISM - RADICALIZATION	 Duration: 00:07:39
Stand on guard.  That's the message from Public Safety Minister Vic Toews today, after the arrest of members of an alleged terrorism cell earlier this week. The minister also expressed concern for what he said was the growing threat of radicalization, and asked Canada's immigrant communities to be on the look-out for signs of "home-grown" terrorists.  Tarek Fatah is the founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a national secular Muslim organization. We reached him in Toronto. 

If you want to listen to it, click the Listen to Part 1 link.  

http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20100827.shtml


----------



## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Peshdary bail hearing to hear wiretaps
31/08/2010 4:57:07 PM
CBC News 


LINK

*Wiretaps that are expected to be introduced in an Ottawa court Friday may help connect the dots between a suspect charged with assault and the arrests of three other men on terrorism charges.*

Awso Peshdary, 20, was arrested Aug. 27 in Ottawa on his way to work and detained during a probe into an alleged homegrown terrorism plot.

He remains in custody after his bail hearing was put off until Friday. Peshdary has not been charged with any terrorism-related offences, but has been detained on domestic assault charges since Aug. 27.

Peshdary's lawyer, Richard Morris, asked in an Ottawa court Tuesday for the hearing to be moved to Friday to allow more time to review material in the case.

Peshdary was not charged with any terrorism-related offences.

*Charges unrelated to terrorism*

Instead, police laid an unrelated assault charge. He was granted bail on Saturday, then immediately rearrested by Ottawa police on similar charges related to a separate incident. On Sunday, a justice of the peace adjourned Peshdary's second bail hearing until Tuesday.

During this time, the RCMP have not questioned Peshdary again or come forward with any terrorism-related charges.

It's not clear what Peshdary's connection is to the RCMP terrorism probe, and police will only say that the investigation is ongoing.

Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, both of Ottawa, and Khurram Syed Sher, 28, of London, Ont., were arrested last week and are accused of conspiring to facilitate terrorism with others in Canada, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Dubai over the past two years.

They are scheduled to make a video court appearance on Wednesday, at which time their lawyers hope to set up bail hearings to argue for their release.

*Friends rally outside courtroom*

Outside the courtroom on Tuesday, dozens of Peshdary's friends and family said they feel the justice system has let them down.

They described Peshdary as a calm, patient family man always willing to help and said the allegations have tainted their friend's reputation.

Mohammed Abdur Haman said he was driving by when he saw police arrest Peshdary on Friday, but at the time didn't know it was his high school friend surrounded by police.

"We seen the cars come up on a car, and then you hear on the newspaper the next day and it's your own friend," said Haman. "It just hurts a lot of people."

A friend who gave his name only as Yahya said reports associating Peshdary with an alleged terrorism investigation will make it difficult for his friend to build a life in Ottawa.

"This guy is trying to go to school, this guy is trying to make something of himself, and who's going to hire him?" he said. "What do you do in that situation when Canada is your home?"

With files from the CBC's Susan Lunn and The Canadian Press


Yada, Yada, Yada.  If this guy is so good and such an outstanding citizen, why is he being held on ASSAULT charges?  Is this because of beliefs in Shira Law?  This could be a whole different "theme" to follow.


----------



## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Ont. terror suspect linked to Pakistani Taliban
01/09/2010 4:45:44 PM
CBC News  


LINK

*One of three Ontario men charged in connection with an alleged terrorism plot has been linked to the Pakistan Taliban, according to a news report.*

The unconfirmed report comes from The Daily Times newspaper in Pakistan, which did not reveal its source nor indicate which of the three accused it believes had direct contact with the Tehrik-e-Taliban.

The U.S. State Department has officially designated the Tehrik-e-Taliban as a "foreign terrorist organization," although it does not appear on the Canadian government's list of groups associated with terrorism.

Tehrik-e-Taliban was behind the attempted bombing of New York's Times Square in May. Last week the group threatened to attack foreign aid workers in the flood-affected areas of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, all three Ontario men facing terror-related charges appeared via video link before an Ottawa court on Wednesday, but only one had a bail hearing scheduled.

The three, who were arrested and charged last week, remain in custody.

Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, both of Ottawa, and Khurram Syed Sher, 28, of London are accused of conspiring to facilitate terrorism with others in Canada, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Dubai over the past two years.

Alizadeh is also charged with possessing an explosive substance with intent to harm, and providing property or financial services for the benefit of a terrorist group.

Ahmed will appear in person at a bail hearing scheduled for Sept. 15, after Crown lawyers said they have provided his defence lawyers with bail briefings outlining the charges against the three men.

Sher will be back in remand court on Sept. 3 via video link to make arrangements for his bail hearing, a date of which has not been set.

Other prisoners heckle Alizadeh

Alizadeh will return to remand court on Sept. 16 to schedule his bail hearing.

The men wore orange prison jumpsuits and were brought into a grey room for the hearing one by one along with other prisoners.

Some other prisoners heckled Alizadeh, asking him when he was coming into the general population of the jail. He didn't answer and his lawyer would not clarify whether he was being held in the jail's general population.

The whole process took only a few minutes and the men waited patiently to be returned to their cells.

Lawyers for both Sher and Alizadeh said they needed more time to review the Crown's case against their clients before proceeding with a bail hearing


----------



## George Wallace

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

Bail granted for man linked to terrorism probe
03/09/2010 12:08:35 PM
CTV News 


LINK

*A 20-year-old Ottawa man arrested -- but never charged -- in connection with a terror probe, was granted bail Friday morning on unrelated domestic assault charges.*

Awso Peshdary had been released on bail after his initial arrest, then immediately rearrested, last weekend. Police linked him to their year-long investigation of an alleged homegrown terror plot, but only charged him with assault and uttering threats. 

On Friday, he was granted bail on $8,000, paid for by his family. He was released on the following conditions; he will reside with his parents, he will have no contact with his wife or young child and cannot apply for a passport. 

Peshdary's lawyer had been arguing the assault charges were nothing more than a smoke screen to buy time to make charges related to the terror probe. 

Police arrested the man allegedly based on audio surveillance of the Peshdary family's home. 

Another man who was charged in the terror probe will have a video appearance in court for a hearing. 

Khurram Syed Sher, 28, of London, Ont. will appear Friday afternoon to discuss his bail hearing related to charges laid under the Anti-Terrorism Act. 

He was charged along with two Ottawa residents, 30-year-old Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh and 26-year-old Misbahuddin Ahmed, last week in an alleged terror scheme that police say reaches from Canada to Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. 

The other two will appear in court later this month. All three are Canadian citizens. 

Sher and Ahmed have been charged with conspiracy to facilitate terrorist activity. 

Alizadeh has been charged with conspiracy, committing an act for terrorism purposes and providing or making available property for terrorism purposes. 

They were arrested after police seized more than 50 electronic circuit boards supposedly intended to be used as remote detonators for explosive devices. Schematics, videos, terrorist literature and bomb-related documents were also allegedly seized. 

Richard Morris, counsel for Peshdary, charged that authorities are dragging their feet in hopes they will come up with information needed to lay charges in their terror probe. 

"Normally one would be held on charges that exist, not on charges they hope to lay some time in the future," Morris said after a court hearing Sunday. 

"Frankly, my client would rather not be charged at all, but if the RCMP have something to bring forward they should." 

Peshdary works at a call centre. The RCMP has released scant details about how he could be related to their terror probe. 

With files from The Canadian Press


----------



## Edward Campbell

Part 1 of 2

An interesting and somewhat provocative but, in my opinion, ultimately flawed idea about the _liberal arts_ vs. _jihad_, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from the _Globe and Mail_:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/can-the-liberal-arts-cure-jihadists/article1695629/


> *Democracy and its Discontents*
> Can the liberal arts cure jihadists?
> *As more homegrown terrorism suspects are uncovered, John Allemang wonders if literature and philosophy could help keep young people off the path to violence*
> 
> John Allemang
> 
> From Saturday's Globe and Mail
> 
> The great truth of democracy, at least when it's working well, isn't about the levels of turnout at the polling stations or the noise from the opposition benches when someone who calls himself the leader gets carried away with his own sense of power. What's much more fundamental to the 2,500-year-old experiment of people trying to rule themselves can be found in its basic sense of humanity – the ability, as University of Chicago philosopher Martha Nussbaum wrote in _Not for Profit_, “to see other people as human beings, not simply as objects.”
> 
> We don't do this instinctively – it takes training. Animals might be collective by nature, but they are hierarchical in their attitudes toward self-preservation and exceedingly narrow in their range of sympathetic feelings. Authoritarian cultures and regimes exploit this us-and-them survival impulse to their advantage, but a democracy glories in achieving the best version yet of the good life thanks to what are traditionally called liberal arts – the broad-based critical education that freed people from all-knowing authority and allowed them to see both themselves and others as fully human.
> 
> But the more this good life is repositioned and redefined as material goods, where objects have become more intrinsically human than people themselves, the faster the liberal arts have fallen out of favour – in the academy, the economy and society at large, where a doctor, an X-ray technician and a former engineering student are now charged with wanting to bomb us into oblivion.
> 
> Clearly _jihadists_ are the sworn enemies of liberal democracy, but can there be a connection between the disappearance of the liberal arts and the rise of homegrown terrorism? Or put another way, can we deter violence by teaching young people to think more clearly and compassionately than they now do in a technology-obsessed society where democracy is too often defined by its unthinking excesses? Prof. Nussbaum believes so.
> 
> As the culture of homegrown terrorism was coming into being, she undertook a study of the Indian province of Gujarat, where religious violence and an ambitious modernization of the educational system starkly exist side by side. “Gujarat is a classic place,” she says, “where schools have cut out all trace of critical thinking and the humanities, and placed a relentless focus on the technical training of people going into engineering and computer science and so on. I do think that is conducive to a culture where you blindly follow authority and respond to peer pressure. Lacking the empathy developed by a more critical kind of education, these tendencies reign unopposed.”
> 
> Reuters
> In 2002, Hindu mobs in Gujarat killed 2,000 Muslims, a pogrom that Prof. Nussbaum traces to “technically trained people who do not know how to criticize authority, useful profit-makers with obtuse imaginations.” We're reminded of that willing deference to higher authority and that failure of imagination when someone among us is arrested and charged with, as the law politely says, conspiracy to facilitate an act of terrorism. It's a disturbing throwback to an animalistic kill-or-be-killed relationship when the calculating minds of homegrown plotters can so casually reduce us from compassionate humanity to objects of disaffection.
> 
> Because we remain human beings, despite the best efforts of our enemies to get past that fact, we can also visualize the pain and the suffering and the horror that are the essential parts of the bomber's objectifying obliteration. This intellectual leap, sadly, is the great strength of what Northrop Frye called the educated imagination. If we've learned to share the strong feelings of characters in War and Peace andMadame Bovary, how can we not also identify with the sufferings in our own time and place.
> 
> The bombs didn't go off, and yet this reaction is distressingly powerful, at least in those who still know how to feel. But here's the essential conundrum with so-called homegrown terrorists: How do they come to be missing this visceral empathy, and how can they so easily shrug off the fellow feelings of the democracy they were raised in? Is there a hole in their soul? Something about their upbringing, their formation, their training that has gone missing or was never there?
> 
> A young man who plays a brilliant game of ball hockey, does a jokey turn for Canadian Idol auditions and has achieved all that was needed to get through McGill University medical school doesn't sound like the classic outsider. To the contrary. Khurram Sher is undeniably one of us – whoever we are, to use democracy's necessary qualifier.
> 
> So if we have a problem with him, then we should have a problem with our society and its shifting values that make it harder to decide what's good and what's bad. Is there a dehumanizing strain infecting the Western value system? The late historian Tony Judt thought so. “Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today,” he wrote in _Ill Fares the Land_. “For 30 years, we have made a virtue of the pursuit of material self-interest: Indeed, this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose.”
> 
> The supreme virtue of self distorts liberal values, which strive to incorporate other people and other ways of thinking into the ongoing argument. Any education or career directed toward material enrichment is necessarily going to give short shrift to the competing needs and views of others. A humanities education is famously success-averse in financial terms, and yet, Prof. Nussbaum says, “there are reasons to think it pushes people in the direction of more empathetic relations with others.”
> 
> Studies by University of Kansas psychology professor Daniel Batson suggest that those who are better able to take the perspective of other people are more likely to help them – essentially, that there's a connection between vivid, imaginative empathy and real-life moral behaviour. But achieving that high level of emotional engagement is key to motivating altruism, which becomes not a detached act of charity but a powerful human-to-human bond.
> 
> The liberal arts value emotional introspection alongside critical inquiry. Does that mean liberal-arts graduates are less likely to become cold-blooded homegrown terrorists than those who haven't read their Shakespeare? That seems a stretch, or as the scientists would say, we don't have research on that.
> 
> “Hot feelings are always going to wipe out critical thinking,” says Janice Stein, director of the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs. “You can be a great critical thinker, but when you feel humiliated and marginalized, rightly or wrongly, the power of thought is overwhelmed.”
> 
> *Teaching Empathy*
> 
> The strange and interesting thing about many homegrown terrorists is that they themselves do not appear to have suffered intense humiliation and marginalization in their own lives. If anything, they have achieved the outward trappings of success.
> 
> But success is relative, as any good liberal-arts students knows. Status and money do not ensure happiness, according to psychologists who study the good life. We overestimate the happiness of big earners, without realizing that money brings pressures and conflicts that counteract the more basic and accessible pleasures of friends, family, conversation, creative idleness. Imagine being programmed for medical school from your earliest years, snaring a rare place at a good school with your A+ average, working desperately to keep up with your fellow overachievers, and then feeling empty at the end when the payoff isn't the paradise you expected. Could you talk yourself into resentment, or look for a higher purpose that would channel your feelings into someone's warped idea of a greater good?
> 
> _“We teach empathy – what would it be like if I were in this person's shoes?” — Cathy Risdon, McMaster University professor of family medicine_
> 
> “Once you're in medicine,” says Cathy Risdon, a professor of family medicine at McMaster University, “what might have been fantasized about the power of belonging quickly dissipates, because it has the same mundane humane textures and politics and cruelties and generosities as any other field of play. I could easily imagine that the satisfaction of yearning to belong wouldn't turn out as one might expect it should. And then there are other groups you could turn to where that yearning might be satisfied more. The closeness and the secrecy and the centrality of purpose that go with people doing covert things might become very attractive.”
> 
> Dr. Risdon helps to design curriculum at McMaster, and part of her goal is to find ways to humanize highly technical and authority-driven medical training. “The foundation of all the incredible technical knowledge we expect of doctors is acquired through training that is all about generalization and abstraction – personal experience is regarded as highly dubious.” Her aim is to make young people who are focused on technical mastery see the particulars of the individual human being known as the patient, to turn the medical autocracy, if you like, into more of a democracy.
> 
> “We teach empathy – what would it be like if I were in this person's shoes? – as a way of working with the particulars of a human being. And I think the humanities are a way of doing that, since the narratives and stories that come from the humanities are always the particular. It does force students to think about how their own experience relates to the theme of a story, that medicine is not just about the universals. But developmentally people can have difficulty exercising that level of imagination, particularly in their 20s.”
> 
> A good liberal-arts education takes these emotionally underdeveloped twentysomethings and compels them to think as if they were a character in _Pride and Prejudice_ or _Huckleberry Finn_ or _Crime and Punishment_, to mix with those unlike themselves in Dante's Inferno, Thucydides's _History of the Peloponnesian War_ and Montaigne's _Essays_, to challenge their theories with unsettling particulars instead of sheltering in an authoritative generalization. It doesn't necessarily come with virtuous ethical content, but it at least promotes a variety of approaches that steer impressionable minds away from the seductive haven of the single universal truth.
> 
> _Jihad_ is one of those all-purpose, all-powerful truths, a know-it-all answer to an equivocating liberal world. And in a faith where no one can claim orthodoxy, radical Islam has an easier job of spoon-feeding the one true story to uncritical young people. Interestingly for humanities graduates, there is something highly McLuhanistic about the improbable success of _jihadists_ in recruiting from the impressionable West.
> 
> “Marshall McLuhan described electronic communication as a kind of external nervous system,” says Feisal G. Mohamed, a Milton scholar at the University of Illinois. “The sense of connection is different from print, which created an imagined national community. Now, we're no longer nations of readers of print, but people connected by impulse from around the globe who seem to find reflected their sort of primordial instinct in co-religionists and people of the same culture. For this reason, the plugged-in generation seems more radical than their immigrant parents.”
> 
> Their schooling, then, has to contend with Internet preachers who challenge them to take on the marginalization of Muslims elsewhere, a role-playing game with potentially catastrophic consequences.
> 
> *The humanities' limits*
> 
> But if you're going to counteract the strange appeal of _jihadists_, can you really hope to succeed with something like Western philosophy, the product of the kind of Enlightenment secularism that true believers despise? Or if you just want to make more empathetic doctors, is it really necessary to look outside the field to find the required humanity?
> 
> Nav Persaud, a family-medicine resident and graduate of University of Toronto medical school who also studied philosophy and psychology at Oxford, is well placed to compare and contrast. “I think I'd worry far more about philosophy students than medical students,” he says. “I seem to recall rubbing shoulders with far more misanthropes in philosophy class than in medical school.”
> 
> Critical thinking was a key part of Dr. Persaud's medical education, along with training in ethical behaviour. Students are evaluated according to how well they interact with patients, he says, and if people find their doctors cold and aloof, that's because “you're trained in your professional life to focus on the facts necessary to make a professional decision. But in the end, the overall goal is to help people, to be mindful of what's best for them.”
> 
> Which, of course, makes it seem even more perplexing when someone like Dr. Sher is charged, or when 29-year-old British National Health Service doctor Bilal Abdullah was convicted in 2008 of trying to kill Londoners outside a West End nightclub before attempting a suicide attack on the Glasgow airport the next day.
> 
> “As a physician, I feel shame when another physician is charged,” Dr. Persaud says. “There's a big disconnect. It's definitely hard to reconcile with what a doctor does taking care of patients on a daily basis.”
> 
> Searching for a connection, he glimpses it not in medicine as such but in the glory perceived to be associated with the job. “Some people are attracted to the idea of becoming a doctor because it's a respected position in society. And maybe that need for recognition has a counterpart in the praise and notoriety you might get from a subset of people who support terror.”
> 
> There’s not much the liberal arts can do about the yearning for fame in the age of celebrity – pointing out its hollowness seems like a curiously antiquarian pursuit when even a graduate of McGill medical school currently awaiting trial on terrorism charges can be seen on YouTube singing an Avril Lavigne tune.
> 
> Edmonton-born Prof. Mohamed is convinced that there is a role for the humanities curriculum in banishing the kind of parochialism where radical Islam flourishes. But, to succeed in winning over those who resist the triumphalism of the West, he insists that the do-gooding humanities need to remake themselves.
> 
> “I think there has to be a re-enrichment of liberal education that's more alive to other traditions. You can't have a circling of the wagons around the Western tradition because you believe it has a monopoly on humane conduct. Because we know the humanist tradition is more conflicted than that. Milton, after all, was a famous champion of liberty, but he was also consistently anti-Catholic and fundamentally anti-democratic. It's not that terrorists are missing out on a traditional liberal education, that they need to learn their Plato or their Milton. The problem is that they don't know their own tradition and haven't studied the Islamic strain of humanism.”
> 
> That said, at a personal level, he notes that reading the novels of Philip Roth helped him better understand his identity as an Egyptian Canadian and enabled him to realize how the minority experience of feeling isolated was part of the mainstream North American story. “One of the virtues of humanities education,” he says, “is the way it reveals to us that we live in a world that is thick with culture and history.” Which is why the first-generation immigrant kids in the Canadian suburbs should be learning something good and useful about themselves from the profound otherness of the Jewish-American novel.
> 
> But that means there have to be students who will shortcut their economic advancement in order to hear the tale, and a broader society that will value this liberal use of the mind not as an intellectual distraction, but as the prime component of both peace and happiness. If all else fails, there's the scare story of the man who put too much faith in the promises of the job market. Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 terrorists, was a quick-witted engineering student who trained in Germany but was crushed when he couldn't find work after returning to Egypt. Think of him and his frustrations when the decision-makers promise to treat higher education as job training. And think what those students are missing whose intellectual explorations are cut off by too much practicality.
> 
> _John Allemang is a feature writer for The Globe and Mail._




My comments follow in Part 2.


----------



## Edward Campbell

Part 2 of 2

On the surface, at least, I *ought* to be on side with Alleman; after all, I am the one who keeps calling for an Islamic _reformation_ followed by an _enlightenment_ in the Arab/Persian/West Asian *cultures* – which is where the _jihadist_ ‘idea’ has its roots – and Alleman suggests that _enlightenment_ is (part of) the answer.

But he’s wrong: you cannot simply ‘teach’ _enlightenment_; the Scottish and later more general European enlightenment involved, with varying degrees of success, changes to socio-_cultural_ values at community and individual levels. People had to “buy in” to the ideas of e.g. universal literacy (public education) before they could be persuaded to consider the ideas put forward by Hume, Smith and others – the ‘teaching’ was a by-product of another, deeper, social _movement_ which was all about real _liberalism_ with its emphasis on the equality of each individual, regardless of birth, and on _empiricism_ with its emphasis on reason (and experimentation) over the _metaphysical_. (And I leave it to the Technoviking to set me straight on both empiricism and metaphysics.)

Allemang cites, with apparent approval, the doctor who suggests that physicians, for example, should be shocked and ashamed when one of their number is charged. But so should engineers, lawyers and computer programmers – all of whom *ought* to be intent on improving the daily lives of their fellow citizens, not on blowing them to bits.

I’m (part way) with Prof. Mohamed: we cannot just “circle the wagons” around the _Western Canon_; it is not unique, it may not even be the ‘best’ of all the philosophical ‘schools.’ We need to understand that other _cultures_ have other values because they come from different philosophical traditions. *But* recognizing other philosophical schools does not and need not equate with approving of them or, more importantly, even ‘accepting’ the cultures they spawn. The _jihadists_, for example, are creatures of another culture which is rooted in different philosophical traditions. We can and should understand those philosophical roots but that does not mean that we need to accept or tolerate all the consequential _cultures_. One, at least, the _culture_ that produces violent _jihad_, is  barbaric and we need to identify it as such and treat it as such.
I need to repeat: Islam is not the enemy. The enemy is that subset of the Arab/Persian/West Asian *culture* (which happens to have Islam as an (almost) universal religion) that wants to return all of us to a mythical, medieval _paradise_ – a ‘paradise’ that I regard as barbaric. We have enough enemies, we need not seek or create new ones.

These 'new' terrorists are not unique because they are Muslim or because they have educations that were _light_ on the _liberal arts_. They are (we hope) unique because they are swimming against their own community 'mainstream.' Few Canadian Muslims (or Muslims in Canada) approve of what e.g. the USA has done/is doing in the Middle East or of Canadian policy in Afghanistan and towards Israel - and we should not blame them for that; they are entitled to their own 'world view' and it is not inconsistent with the views of many in the West and in South and East Asia. But fewer Muslims allow their disapproval to extend much beyond head shakes. Only a tiny number reject the values of 'our' society and decide to wage _jihad_, with all its, inevitable, consequences. That tiny minority needs to be tracked and, as the need arises, arrested and locked away. It will take more than a _liberal arts_ education to counteract the seductive, even compelling messages being sent to them by the barbarians.


----------



## Edward Campbell

I think that guys like ”Terry Jones, a pistol-packing Christian preacher who leads prayers at a 50-person Florida church” and plans to burn a Koran on Sat, 11 Sep 10, serve a very useful purpose. They remind us that crazed fundamentalists are not, in any way, unique to Islam; Christianity is, at least, as full of charlatans and the criminally insane.

Keep it up, Terry; eventually you will advance the cause of _secularism_ throughout the world by demonstrating that religion is the real “enemy of the people.” 

There are barbarians everywhere.


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## 57Chevy

It sure doesn't help the effort in Afghanistan and could endanger the troops according to Patreus.


edited to remove link to news article.


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## OldSolduer

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> There are barbarians everywhere.



I heartily concur. Roman Catholics and Protestants were going at it tooth and nail in Ireland for a very long time.


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## George Wallace

Here reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:


Ottawa terror suspect has charge added
15/09/2010 11:14:34 AM
CBC News

link

*Misbahuddin Ahmed, an Ottawa man charged in connection with an alleged terrorism plot, now faces an additional charge of possession of explosives with intent to harm.*

Ahmed, 26, learned of the new charge at a bail hearing in Ottawa. Evidence presented at the hearing, expected to last all day, is subject to a publication ban.

Ahmed was arrested on Aug. 25 along with Hiva Alizadeh, 30, also of Ottawa, and Khurram Sher, 28, of London, Ont. Police charged all three men with conspiring to facilitate terrorism.

Alizadeh is also charged with possessing an explosive substance with intent to harm and with providing property or financial services for the benefit of a terrorist group.

The RCMP allege the three men were in the early stages of plans to aid terrorism activities in Canada and abroad, and were working with others in Canada, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Dubai over the past two years.

Sher's bail hearing is scheduled over three days from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. Alizadeh is due to return to remand court on Thursday to schedule his bail hearing.


----------



## George Wallace

Here reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:


New charge in Ottawa terror plot
By MEGAN GILLIS, Ottawa Sun
Last Updated: September 15, 2010 10:56am

LINK

An Ottawa X-ray technician accused in an alleged homegrown terror plot making a bid for freedom pending trial Wednesday is now facing an explosives-related charge. 

Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, Khurram Syed Sher, 28, a London, Ont., doctor, and Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, of Ottawa, a former engineering student and the alleged ringleader, were charged last month with conspiring over the past two years to facilitate terrorist activity with accomplices in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan. It carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. 

Ahmed is now also facing a charge that carries a maximum term of life - that from June to August this year he possessed or made an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or cause serious property damage or allow someone else to do so on behalf of a criminal organization. 

Alizadeh had from the outset been facing explosives and financing of terrorism charges. 

Evidence heard at the bail hearing is covered by a standard publication ban. 

Police raided Ahmed’s Esterlawn Pvt. home in the Woodroffe and Carling area along with Alizadeh’s Woodridge Cresc. address as the three men were arrested. 

Project Samossa investigators allege a plot to build and detonate bombs in Canada and raise money to help Taliban fighters in Afghanistan fight Canadian and coalition forces. 

Security was tight at the Elgin St. courthouse prior to Ahmed's hearing. All those entering the courtroom had to go through metal detectors and have their belongings searched.


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## Cdn Blackshirt

I find it odd that no one in this thread has yet highlighted the fact that in order to assist the Taliban, these individuals were in communication with contacts in Iran.

Based on Iran's security apparatus, I'm highly dubious that such "arrangements" were being made with Iranian citizens without the direct involvement of arms of the Iranian government.


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## George Wallace

Here reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:


Ottawa terror suspect to be released on bail
28/09/2010 3:08:29 PM
CBC News 


LINK



*Misbahuddin Ahmed, an Ottawa man charged in connection with an alleged terrorism plot, has been granted bail and is set to be released.*

A justice of the peace granted the release for Ahmed in an Ottawa courtroom after Ahmed's family posted $20,000 cash bail and put up $625,000 in bonds and sureties.

Under the strict conditions of the release, Ahmed's passport is forfeited, he cannot go outside Ontario or Quebec and must stay with relatives in Quebec. He is not allowed to use the internet, a cellphone or other wireless device, and may not possess a weapon or material that can be used to make a weapon. He also can't try to contact either of his co-accused or a member of a terrorist organization.

Ahmed, a 26-year-old Ottawa radiologist, was arrested on Aug. 25 along with Hiva Alizadeh, 30, also of Ottawa, and Khurram Sher, 28, of London, Ont.

All three men were charged with conspiring to facilitate terrorism.

Ahmed and Alizadeh have been charged with possessing or making an explosive substance with the intent to harm. Alizadeh has also been charged with providing property or financial services for the benefit of a terrorist group.

Evidence presented at the hearing is subject to a publication ban.


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## Jarnhamar

George Wallace said:
			
		

> Here reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:
> 
> 
> Ottawa terror suspect has charge added
> 15/09/2010 11:14:34 AM
> CBC News
> 
> link
> 
> *Misbahuddin Ahmed, an Ottawa man charged in connection with an alleged terrorism plot, now faces an additional charge of possession of explosives with intent to harm.*
> 
> Ahmed, 26, learned of the new charge at a bail hearing in Ottawa. Evidence presented at the hearing, expected to last all day, is subject to a publication ban.
> 
> Ahmed was arrested on Aug. 25 along with Hiva Alizadeh, 30, also of Ottawa, and Khurram Sher, 28, of London, Ont. Police charged all three men with conspiring to facilitate terrorism.
> 
> Alizadeh is also charged with possessing an explosive substance with intent to harm and with providing property or financial services for the benefit of a terrorist group.
> 
> The RCMP allege the three men were in the early stages of plans to aid terrorism activities in Canada and abroad, and were working with others in Canada, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Dubai over the past two years.
> 
> Sher's bail hearing is scheduled over three days from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. Alizadeh is due to return to remand court on Thursday to schedule his bail hearing.



If found guilty they should be given the death penalty.


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## Journeyman

Grimaldus said:
			
		

> If found guilty they should be given the death penalty.


You _do_ know Canada hasn't had a death penalty since 1976?


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## Jarnhamar

Journeyman said:
			
		

> You _do_ know Canada hasn't had a death penalty since 1976?


Yes and a little while later for the CF.   
I meant capital punishment should be put back on the books for stuff like this.


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## Journeyman

Grimaldus said:
			
		

> You do know Canada hasn't had a death penalty since 1976?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes and a little while later for the CF.
Click to expand...

I believe that if one were to check the National Defence Act (Sect. 73-74??), it's still on the books for several military offences, such as a commander acting traitorously in action. 
       [/tangent]

It's still irrelevant in this case


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## dapaterson

Part III, Division 2 of the NDA (Service Offences and Punishments) spells out crimes and punishments; death was removed from all many, many years ago.

s139 lists the punishments available under the NDA:



> Scale of punishments
> 
> 139. (1) The following punishments may be imposed in respect of service offences and each of those punishments is a punishment less than every punishment preceding it:
> (a) imprisonment for life;
> (b) imprisonment for two years or more;
> (c) dismissal with disgrace from Her Majesty’s service;
> (d) imprisonment for less than two years;
> (e) dismissal from Her Majesty’s service;
> (f) detention;
> (g) reduction in rank;
> (h) forfeiture of seniority;
> (i) severe reprimand;
> (j) reprimand;
> (k) fine; and
> (l) minor punishments.




Hopefully this doesn't mean you'll have to revisit any summary trials...


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## Journeyman

dapaterson said:
			
		

> Hopefully this doesn't mean you'll have to revisit any summary trials...


It's probably too late for CPR  


I confess to basing my apparently outdated info on the Somalia Inquiry


> The National Defence Act sets out the punishments that can be imposed for service offences. Punishments depend on the tribunal and the offence,and may include death, imprisonment for two years or more, dismissal with disgrace from Her Majesty's service, imprisonment for less than two years, dismissal from Her Majesty's service, detention, reduction in rank, forfeiture of seniority, severe reprimand, reprimand, fine, or minor punishments. *The death penalty still exists for several military offences, such as a commander acting traitorously in action or a soldier showing cowardice before the enemy*. Sentences of death were carried out against 25 Canadian soldiers in the First World War and one during the Second World War. There have been no executions in the CF since then.


That'll teach me for dozing during the Presiding Officer Training


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## Edward Campbell

Although, broadly and generally, I doubt the _utility_ of capital punishment,* I do think it should have been retained for a very tiny number of military _crimes_ including the one Journeyman cited.

BTW: I support corporal punishment, if it is administered in public, for a wide range of crimes. I think 50 lashes would do more to reduce drug trafficking, for example, than any prison sentence.






_This 1907 photograph taken in a Delaware prison shows two inmates in a pillory with another receiving a whipping._
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS





Official demonstration of caning of a dummy in Singapore


__________
* I understand that capital punishment, effectively applied, prevents recidivism but it, as currently applied - where it is is still applied, lacks _deterrent_ value. It could, of course, regain its deterrent value if we did it publicly, preferably in mid to late afternoon and in the _McDonald's_ or _7/11_ parking lots near schools. That would provide a good object lesson for the kids. Capital punishment, for me, loses its value when the public is no longer intimately involved.


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## vonGarvin

"Death" was removed from the scale of punishments, effective 01 September, 1999, IIRC.

I sense a tangent approaching


> Capital punishment, for me, loses its value when the public is no longer intimately involved.


IF we as a nation were to re-instate capital punishment, it would have be cruel and unusual in order to be effective.  Before anyone labels me a sadist, allow me to explain.
It must be "perceived" as cruel by the convicted.  This is why so-called "humane" methods aren't effective.  Instead of being lulled to sleep by a drug, and then slowly applied a poison, one ought to dread the night when the hangman approaches.  Yes, hanging by the neck, until dead.  The mere thought of it must make us, as a society, a bit repulsed, in order that we don't get too used to the idea of "putting someone to sleep".  This brings me to punisments being unusual.  They must be so rare that when someone is hanged, it is national news.  I can think of only a handful in the last 30 years or so who, in my own personal opinion, should have received death by hanging as a punishment. That tiny list includes Clifford Olson, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.  Their crimes were so repulsive that the three of them serve no use to society any further.  Perhaps Robert Pickton ought to be added to that list, and perhaps there are a few more, but it must be an event that though it repulses us as a society, that we ought to be 100% sure that the convicted deserves the fate of the noose about his or her neck.


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## OldSolduer

Edward:

I prefer public humiliation - the stocks and pillories.

PLUS - it could be a money maker. For instance, the direct victim of the crime receives a free bag of over ripe tomatoes to throw at the criminal.
All others have to pay for their rotten tomatoes. Labatts or Keiths could sponsor it..... ;D


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## Jarnhamar

Technoviking said:
			
		

> "Death" was removed from the scale of punishments, effective 01 September, 1999, IIRC.
> 
> I sense a tangent approachingIF we as a nation were to re-instate capital punishment, it would have be cruel and unusual in order to be effective.  Before anyone labels me a sadist, allow me to explain.
> It must be "perceived" as cruel by the convicted.  This is why so-called "humane" methods aren't effective.  Instead of being lulled to sleep by a drug, and then slowly applied a poison, one ought to dread the night when the hangman approaches.  Yes, hanging by the neck, until dead.  The mere thought of it must make us, as a society, a bit repulsed, in order that we don't get too used to the idea of "putting someone to sleep".  This brings me to punisments being unusual.  They must be so rare that when someone is hanged, it is national news.  I can think of only a handful in the last 30 years or so who, in my own personal opinion, should have received death by hanging as a punishment. That tiny list includes Clifford Olson, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.  Their crimes were so repulsive that the three of them serve no use to society any further.  Perhaps Robert Pickton ought to be added to that list, and perhaps there are a few more, but it must be an event that though it repulses us as a society, that we ought to be 100% sure that the convicted deserves the fate of the noose about his or her neck.



I couldn't agree more.

After seeing what kind of shit hole the rest of the world can be when fanatics/career criminals are allowed to run wild I have zero reservations against aggressive, violent and cruel punishment to members of society like Bernado & Olson. I put these homegrown or visiting terrorists in that list too.  Can you imagine the carnage that they would cause if one of their stupid plots actually did work? The possible dozens of people wiped out in some bombing and the after effects of their actions.

If someone doesn't want to act like a human being they shouldn't be afforded the same rights as those of us who do IMHO.


----------



## The Bread Guy

_La Presse _reports the probe leading to the arrests cost ~$3 million (French - Google English):


> The RCMP investigation that led to the arrests last summer of three suspects accused of terrorist plot in Ottawa, has already cost nearly $ 3 million, La Presse has learned.
> 
> The operation dubbed Samossa project, which began in 2009, had cost, dated November 4, 2010, $ 2,846,613 including salaries and overtime expenses, provides a document obtained through the access law information.
> 
> "So, to protect the integrity of the investigation, the original documents can not be disclosed, "says the note, which comes from the Bureau of Investigations National Security Force ....


----------



## The Bread Guy

Bumped with more of the latest - one goes on trial starting today:


> More than three years after his arrest, a man who once auditioned for the Canadian Idol TV show will face trial on a terrorism charge.
> 
> Khurram Syed Sher, a doctor of pathology from London, Ont., is to be tried by judge alone in an Ottawa courtroom starting Monday.
> 
> Sher, 31, was charged along with two other men in August 2010 with conspiracy to facilitate terrorism ....


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## Lightguns

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> Bumped with more of the latest - one goes on trial starting today:



An excellent reason why we need to Canadianize the Idol show by having everyone win a ribbon; no losers - no disgruntled singers - no terrorists.


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## vonGarvin

Lightguns said:
			
		

> An excellent reason why we need to Canadianize the Idol show by having everyone win a ribbon; no losers - no disgruntled singers - no terrorists.



"But there is no question that this happened because there is someone who feels completely excluded."  ;D


----------



## OldSolduer

Technoviking said:
			
		

> "But there is no question that this happened because there is someone who feels completely excluded."  ;D



Let's exclude them some more, provided they are found guilty.


----------



## medicineman

Should have tried changing the spelling of his last name to one starting with a "C" instead of an "S"...might have done better.

MM


----------



## The Bread Guy

Bumped with the latest:


> A London, Ontario pathologist was acquitted Tuesday of conspiring to facilitate terror.
> 
> Dr. Khurram Syed Sher is the first person accused of a terrorism offence in Canada to be acquitted at trial.
> 
> His brush with a homegrown terror cell was confined to a single, albeit lengthy, conversation he had with two alleged co-conspirators in July 2010.
> 
> "It's been a very, very tough four years," defence lawyer Michael Edelson said as Sher stood at his side.
> 
> "His career has been ended. He's lost over $1 million in income...His family has left, he has reduced access to his children."
> 
> "It's been tragic."
> 
> Judge Charles Hackland said Sher likely had "jihadist sympathies," but he doubted Sher had actually agreed to join a pre-existing terror conspiracy.
> 
> "The accused, notwithstanding that he is a physician and therefore academically bright, impressed me as a quite naive, immature and inarticulate young man," Hackland said in his decision Tuesday.
> 
> "I assess the accused as the type of person who would go with the flow and avoid debate or confrontation while a guest in the home of someone who should otherwise have been confronted."
> 
> Edelson said Hackland got it "dead right." ....


----------



## The Bread Guy

Bumped with the latest ....


> A judge delivered a scathing condemnation Wednesday of an Iranian-born Canadian citizen who led a terror plot to build explosives for use against Canadian targets and allied forces in Afghanistan.
> 
> In denouncing Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh’s crime, Ontario Superior Court Justice Colin McKinnon nailed the most troubling fact: there is no clear explanation of how or why he became radicalized in Canada.
> 
> Nor is there any clear plan for how Alizadeh, facing at least 18 more years of a 24-year jail sentence, will unravel his terrorist ideology in a federal penitentiary.
> 
> “You have brought untold shame upon your family, your community and peace-loving Muslims throughout this country. You have betrayed the trust of your government and your fellow citizens. You have effectively been convicted of treason,” the judge said.
> 
> “It is almost impossible to divine what set of circumstances might have impelled you to embrace radical Islamist jihadist ideology.”
> 
> That free choice, McKinnon said, “ruined your life and those closest to you.” .... )


More via Google News here.

As for the others ....


> .... Barring appeals, the final stage could come shortly with the sentencing of Misbahuddin Ahmed, 30, a hospital X-ray technician attracted to Alizadeh’s radical jihadist views. He was found guilty in July of conspiring to facilitate a terrorist activity and of participating in the activities of a terrorist group.
> 
> But jurors acquitted Ahmed of his most serious charge of possessing an explosive device for a terrorist activity, despite the discovery at his Esterlawn Private home of a shopping bag of circuit boards, bomb-making instructional videos and other material that police had covertly observed earlier at Alizadeh’s apartment on Woodridge Crescent. Ahmed testified he accepted the components from Alizadeh with the intention of destroying them.
> 
> And a third accused, pathologist Khurram Sher, known famously for his clownish tryout for the TV talent show Canadian Idol, was found not guilty in August of conspiring to commit terrorism ....


----------



## The Bread Guy

Sentence for the former x-ray tech - 12 years:


> A 31-year-old former diagnostic imaging technician of the Ottawa Hospital who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for two terrorism charges “owes a debt of gratitude to CSIS and the RCMP,” a Superior Court judge said Thursday.
> 
> Just before Justice Colin McKinnon handed down the sentence, he said Misbahuddin Ahmed – a convicted terrorist – as well as his family is indebted to Canada’s top police force and spy agency for unveiling in 2010 a conspiracy to possibly carry out an act of terrorism on Canadian soil.
> 
> “But, for their vigilance and unceasingly hard work in frustrating your evil plot, you might well have developed into a truly dangerous person, responsible for the deaths of innocents,” said McKinnon, after asking Ahmed to stand for the conclusion of his sentence ....


More via Google News here.


----------



## Gunner98

General Disorder said:
			
		

> They must be so rare that when someone is hanged, it is national news.  I can think of only a handful in the last 30 years or so who, in my own personal opinion, should have received death by hanging as a punishment. That tiny list includes Clifford Olson, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.  Their crimes were so repulsive that the three of them serve no use to society any further.  Perhaps Robert Pickton ought to be added to that list, and perhaps there are a few more, but it must be an event that though it repulses us as a society, that we ought to be 100% sure that the convicted deserves the fate of the noose about his or her neck.



In the case of Russell Williams, I would prefer military firing squad to hanging.


----------

