John Maguire, an ISIS fighter from Ottawa, appears on video warning Canada of attacks ‘where it hurts you the most’
The National Post
Stewart Bell | December 7, 2014 | Last Updated: Dec 7 6:44 PM ET
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ISIS attempted to incite further attacks against Canadians on Sunday, issuing a propaganda video in which an Ottawa extremist scolded the government for joining the international military coalition fighting the terrorist group.
The six-minute video said Canadians would be indiscriminately targeted and that Muslims were obliged to either join ISIS or “follow the example” of the attackers who struck in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
“You either pack your bags, or prepare your explosive devices. You either purchase your airline ticket, or you sharpen your knife,” said the video, produced by a propaganda group linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham.
The speaker identified himself as Abu Anwar al-Canadi, but five former friends said they recognized him as John Maguire, a University of Ottawa dropout who converted to Islam and became radicalized before vanishing last year.
“To think a person who I used to stand next to in prayer three years ago would turn out like this is unbelievable,” a former university acquaintance, who disagreed with Mr. Maguire’s extremist views, said after watching the video.
Looking gaunt and sounding alien to those who knew him in Canada, he spoke in English and seemed to read from a script. The camera shots appeared to be staged to show ruined buildings and a mosque dome in the background.
The video is part of a propaganda push by ISIS that appears designed to attract recruits and use the threat of terrorism to deter the U.S.-led air campaign that has killed hundreds of fighters and, according to military officials, stalled the group’s advance.
“It follows quite closely to the theme of a variety of videos aimed at Western audiences, like the video aimed at French Muslims a few weeks ago,” said Professor Amarnath Amarasingam of the Dalhousie University Resilience Research Centre, who is studying Canadian foreign fighters.
“The interrelated themes are of course ones of religious obligation: if a caliphate has been established and Muslims have been persecuted by the state you are living in, you are required to leave the state you are living in. The risk of staying is hellfire. Maguire’s video is similar to the video aimed at French Muslims, asking a simple question: what are you waiting for?”
The video refers repeatedly to the October killings of two Canadian Forces members in Quebec and Ottawa by men who had adopted Islamist extremist beliefs. It said the attacks were a “direct response” to Canada’s military role in Iraq.
“The more bombs you drop on our people, the more Muslims will realize and understand that today, waging jihad against the West and its allies around the world is beyond a shadow of the doubt a religious obligation binding upon every Muslim.”
Responding to the video, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said terrorism remained a serious threat to Canadians. “That is why we are taking part in the coalition that is currently conducting air strikes against ISIL [another acronym for ISIS], and supporting the security forces in Iraq in their fight against this terrorist scourge.”
Canada has sent six CF-18s to Kuwait to participate in air strikes against ISIS, which is trying to impose its militant ideology on Syrians and Iraqis through a brutal campaign of atrocities ranging from mass executions and ethnic cleansing to forced conversions and enslaving members of minority faiths.
Originally from Kemptville, Ont., Mr. Maguire, 24, who changed his name to “Yahya” after converting to Islam, is one of the dozens of Canadians believed to have joined extremist groups in Iraq and Syria. Since the attacks in Quebec and Ottawa, the government has proposed new legislation to better track Canadians who go abroad to participate in terrorism.
Posted onto Twitter and jihadi Web forums, the video said Canada was “waging war” against Muslims, according to a transcript distributed by the SITE Intelligence Group. “So it should not surprise you when operations by the Muslims are executed where it hurts you the most — on your very own soil — in retaliation to your unprovoked acts of aggression towards our people,” it said.
“You have absolutely no right to live in a state of safety and security when your country is carrying out atrocities on our people,” it added. “Your people will be indiscriminately targeted as you indiscriminately target our people.”
But the ISIS message has found little support in Canada. Although it has attracted recruits, as well as young women wanting to become jihadist brides, Canada’s major Muslim organizations have denounced the terror group.
At school, Mr. Maguire had dreamed of making the NHL and played bass in a punk band, but his family said he was raised in an abusive household and eventually moved in with his grandparents. After he disappeared from Ottawa, the RCMP told his mother he was in Syria and had traveled on a one-way ticket.
“I was one of you. I was a typical Canadian. I grew up on the hockey rink and spent my teenage years on stage playing guitar,” the video narrator said. “I had no criminal record. I was a bright student and maintained a strong GPA in university. So how could one of your people end up in my place? And why is it that your own people are the ones turning against you at home? The answer is that we have accepted the true call of the prophets and messengers of God.”
National Post, with files from Sarah Boesveld
