OTTAWA - The alleged terrorist who once moonwalked across the stage to audition for Canadian Idol was granted bail Wednesday.
Dr. Khurram Syed Sher didn't dance out of the courthouse, but he did break out the robot in jail before attending the bail hearing, his lawyer Anser Farooq said.
Farooq said his client has a sense of humour and did the '80s dance move at Ottawa's provincial jail despite not knowing how Wednesday would turn out.
Sher stopped for a throng of media waiting for him outside the Elgin St. courthouse. Besides a "no comment," Sher didn't respond to questions until a television reporter asked how the fresh air felt.
"It's nice," he replied with a small smirk.
Sher, 28, and co-accused Misbahuddin Ahmed and Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 31, are charged with conspiring with people in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan to facilitate terrorism.
The reasons for Justice of the Peace Louisette Girault's decision are covered by a standard publication ban.
Sher will reside at a family member's home in Mississauga, Ont., and have to report to the RCMP in Etobicoke once a week. He also can only use the Internet to continue his studies under supervision of a surety, as well as not communicate with the other accused. His sureties posted a $183,000 bond.
Ahmed and Alizadeh are also charged with possessing explosives and Alizadeh with financing terrorism.
"It's going to take some time to sink in," Farooq said of his client being on bail.
Farooq said their goal is to get the case moving along so Sher can clear his name. Farooq said he's going to push the Crown to reassess their case against Sher because he feels there isn't enough evidence that implicates him.
Ahmed has already been granted bail but the Crown is appealing it. Alizadeh has yet to have a bail hearing.
Investigators with Project Samossa allege the men were involved in a plot to build and detonate bombs in Canada and raise money to help Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
Soon after his arrest, a video of Sher showed his awkward 2008 appearance on the Canadian Idol reality talent show.
Sher, then a 25-year-old McGill medical student, drew laughs and ridicule from the panel for his butchered rendition of Avril Lavigne's hit song Complicated.
Bearded and wearing traditional Pakistani clothing, Sher performed the moonwalk, kicked up his leg Michael Jackson-style and performed robotic breakdancing moves.
The young doctor had told the panel that he liked hockey, music and acting. He had been heavily involved in sporting events and student life as a medical student at McGill, where he graduated in 2005.
Sher left Montreal in June for a job as a pathologist in London, Ont.
Colleagues at St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital were shocked when they learned of his arrest.
- with QMI Agency files
kenneth.jackson@sunmedia.ca
FROM: http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/10/14/15684456.html
*** Even if this does not work out, the sound of the hammer is being heard by others. MS ***
Showing posts with label RCMP homegrown terror Ottawa case. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RCMP homegrown terror Ottawa case. Show all posts
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
BAIL GRANTED TO OTTAWA TERROR SUSPECT
Andrew Seymour, Postmedia News · Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010
OTTAWA — The first of three Canadian men accused in connection with an alleged homegrown terrorist plot has been granted bail.
The reasons for Justice of the Peace Louisette Girault’s decision to release Misbahuddin Ahmed, on what are expected to be several strict conditions, are covered by a routine publication ban.
The 26-year-old X-ray technologist showed no emotion except to slightly nod his head when Girault granted him bail. Ahmed, seated between two RCMP tactical officers, kept his arms crossed while staring intently at Girault during the roughly 30-minute hearing.
The conditions he will have to follow were to be determined later Tuesday.
Girault’s decision followed a day and a half of evidence and arguments at a bail hearing that began Sept. 15.
The decision to release Ahmed comes one day before a bail hearing for another of the terror accused, Khurram Syed Sher. The 28-year-old London, Ont. doctor’s bail hearing is expected to take three days.
A third man, the alleged ringleader Hiva Alizadeh, 30, is next scheduled to appear in court Thursday. He has yet to request a bail hearing.
The three men are accused of conspiring to facilitate “terrorist activity” between February 2008 and Aug. 24 this year. Alleged co-conspirators include at least three other people who have been named, but not indicted, plus other unknown people in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan.
The alleged plot was in its early planning stages and “months” away from being operationally viable, the RCMP said shortly after the arrests.
Ahmed and Alizadeh are also facing charges related to possessing or making explosives to help a terrorist group. Alizadeh alone is charged with making available property or financing to benefit a terrorist group.
Ottawa Citizen
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Bail+granted+Ottawa+charged+with+terrorism+offences/3591759/story.html#ixzz10qxIBc5e
OTTAWA — The first of three Canadian men accused in connection with an alleged homegrown terrorist plot has been granted bail.
The reasons for Justice of the Peace Louisette Girault’s decision to release Misbahuddin Ahmed, on what are expected to be several strict conditions, are covered by a routine publication ban.
The 26-year-old X-ray technologist showed no emotion except to slightly nod his head when Girault granted him bail. Ahmed, seated between two RCMP tactical officers, kept his arms crossed while staring intently at Girault during the roughly 30-minute hearing.
The conditions he will have to follow were to be determined later Tuesday.
Girault’s decision followed a day and a half of evidence and arguments at a bail hearing that began Sept. 15.
The decision to release Ahmed comes one day before a bail hearing for another of the terror accused, Khurram Syed Sher. The 28-year-old London, Ont. doctor’s bail hearing is expected to take three days.
A third man, the alleged ringleader Hiva Alizadeh, 30, is next scheduled to appear in court Thursday. He has yet to request a bail hearing.
The three men are accused of conspiring to facilitate “terrorist activity” between February 2008 and Aug. 24 this year. Alleged co-conspirators include at least three other people who have been named, but not indicted, plus other unknown people in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan.
The alleged plot was in its early planning stages and “months” away from being operationally viable, the RCMP said shortly after the arrests.
Ahmed and Alizadeh are also facing charges related to possessing or making explosives to help a terrorist group. Alizadeh alone is charged with making available property or financing to benefit a terrorist group.
Ottawa Citizen
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Bail+granted+Ottawa+charged+with+terrorism+offences/3591759/story.html#ixzz10qxIBc5e
Friday, September 3, 2010
FOURTH TERROR SUSPECT RELEASED
*** So the listening devices in his home that were planted to obtain evidence of terrorism offences were instead used to convict him on domestic assault charges? Ummm...okay I guess. Let's hope they treat ALL domestic assault cases like this one. MS ***
Andrew Seymour, Postmedia News · Friday, Sept. 3, 2010
OTTAWA — A man arrested but never charged in connection with an Ottawa terror investigation has been released on consent of the Crown.
Awso Peshdary was released Friday on several strict conditions, including that he reside with his sister and father, who each posted $4,000 bonds. He must also not apply for a passport, must stay away from his wife and infant child, and must not possess any weapons or explosives.
Mr. Peshdary said in a quiet voice he understood the conditions. If he fails to follow them, he could face up to two years in jail and his sureties would lose the bond money.
His conditions also include to stay away from his wife’s family, including her mother. He must also stay away from her place of employment, residence and place of worship.
After seeking to have Mr. Peshdary kept in custody on Sunday, Assistant Crown attorney Julie Scott said the Crown had time to review the file and would consent to his release.
No further charges would be filed, she said.
“There is no information Mr. Peshdary is in possession of any weapons and the Crown is of the view he can be released,” said Ms. Scott. She said the couple had been together a year-and-a-half and prior to Peshdary’s arrest there had been no complaints of domestic violence.
He has no criminal record, Ms. Scott said. She added there is a “safety plan” in place for Mr. Peshdary’s wife.
Court heard Mr. Peshdary is accused of twice assaulting his wife, whose name is protected by a publication ban.
The more serious of the alleged incidents occurred Aug. 10, when he allegedly pushed his wife in the throat, causing her to feel choked, according to the Crown.
He also allegedly pushed her in April. Both times he allegedly threatened her.
There was no mention of any connection to the Ottawa terror investigation that resulted in his arrest last Friday. He spent a week in custody before the Crown changed course.
Earlier this week it was revealed prosecution evidence in the domestic assault case came from microphones planted by police in his house.
It isn’t clear how long the Mounties were listening to conversations from the Peshdary home, but two of the charges date to April.
Mr. Peshdary has been at the centre of a bizarre legal roller-coaster since being arrested early last Friday morning on his way to work.
After a six-hour interrogation, the RCMP released him into the custody of Ottawa police, who charged him with one count of assault and one count of uttering a threat.
He was granted bail by Justice of the Peace Ray Switzer on Saturday but immediately re-arrested before he had a chance to leave the court building.
He was then charged on two more counts and on Sunday was ordered held in custody by Switzer until Tuesday.
The three other suspects arrested last week in the police anti-terrorist investigation known as Project Samossa — Hiva Alizadeh, 30, Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, and Khurram Syed Sher, 28 — are being held at an Ottawa detention centre. Mr. Sher has another court appearance Friday afternoon to set a date for his bail hearing. Mr. Ahmed’s bail hearing is set for Sept. 15. A bail hearing for Mr. Alizadeh has not been set.
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/arrested+Ottawa+terror+probe+released/3478401/story.html#ixzz0yTzBSVPK
Andrew Seymour, Postmedia News · Friday, Sept. 3, 2010
OTTAWA — A man arrested but never charged in connection with an Ottawa terror investigation has been released on consent of the Crown.
Awso Peshdary was released Friday on several strict conditions, including that he reside with his sister and father, who each posted $4,000 bonds. He must also not apply for a passport, must stay away from his wife and infant child, and must not possess any weapons or explosives.
Mr. Peshdary said in a quiet voice he understood the conditions. If he fails to follow them, he could face up to two years in jail and his sureties would lose the bond money.
His conditions also include to stay away from his wife’s family, including her mother. He must also stay away from her place of employment, residence and place of worship.
After seeking to have Mr. Peshdary kept in custody on Sunday, Assistant Crown attorney Julie Scott said the Crown had time to review the file and would consent to his release.
No further charges would be filed, she said.
“There is no information Mr. Peshdary is in possession of any weapons and the Crown is of the view he can be released,” said Ms. Scott. She said the couple had been together a year-and-a-half and prior to Peshdary’s arrest there had been no complaints of domestic violence.
He has no criminal record, Ms. Scott said. She added there is a “safety plan” in place for Mr. Peshdary’s wife.
Court heard Mr. Peshdary is accused of twice assaulting his wife, whose name is protected by a publication ban.
The more serious of the alleged incidents occurred Aug. 10, when he allegedly pushed his wife in the throat, causing her to feel choked, according to the Crown.
He also allegedly pushed her in April. Both times he allegedly threatened her.
There was no mention of any connection to the Ottawa terror investigation that resulted in his arrest last Friday. He spent a week in custody before the Crown changed course.
Earlier this week it was revealed prosecution evidence in the domestic assault case came from microphones planted by police in his house.
It isn’t clear how long the Mounties were listening to conversations from the Peshdary home, but two of the charges date to April.
Mr. Peshdary has been at the centre of a bizarre legal roller-coaster since being arrested early last Friday morning on his way to work.
After a six-hour interrogation, the RCMP released him into the custody of Ottawa police, who charged him with one count of assault and one count of uttering a threat.
He was granted bail by Justice of the Peace Ray Switzer on Saturday but immediately re-arrested before he had a chance to leave the court building.
He was then charged on two more counts and on Sunday was ordered held in custody by Switzer until Tuesday.
The three other suspects arrested last week in the police anti-terrorist investigation known as Project Samossa — Hiva Alizadeh, 30, Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, and Khurram Syed Sher, 28 — are being held at an Ottawa detention centre. Mr. Sher has another court appearance Friday afternoon to set a date for his bail hearing. Mr. Ahmed’s bail hearing is set for Sept. 15. A bail hearing for Mr. Alizadeh has not been set.
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/arrested+Ottawa+terror+probe+released/3478401/story.html#ixzz0yTzBSVPK
Saturday, August 28, 2010
REJECT EXTREMIST VIOLENCE - OTTAWA IMAM SAYS
*** The media will be sure to relegate this to another headline and a few days later, the public AND the media will ask: are Muslims condemning extremist violence. It's a vicious cycle that perpetuates alienation and mistrust. MS ***
OTTAWA — The imam of Ottawa’s largest mosque has appealed to Muslim youth to reject terrorism and not import Middle East conflicts to Canada.
In an interview following Friday prayers, Imam Khaled Abdul-Hamid Syed said Muslim Canadians “live in the best country” in the West, one that gives its citizens the freedom to express differing views.
“We don’t need to go in the direction of violence.
“I appeal to the Muslim youth not to get involved in any acts of violence or terrorism or other criminal behaviour,” Khaled said. “Keep away from this.”
He said that he did not perceive a widespread problem with Muslim youth in Ottawa.
“I think we have good youth. They are active and co-operative in this community.”
The imam’s comments follow the arrest of a fourth terrorism suspect in Ottawa on Friday. He has not yet been identified or charged.
Two other Ottawa men, Misbahuddin Ahmed and Hiva Alizadeh, and a London, Ont., doctor, Khurram Syed Sher, were arrested Wednesday and face terrorism charges related to alleged plot to bomb Canadian targets. Sher appeared in Ottawa court Friday.
In general, Khaled said, “we denounce any criminal behaviour or act of terrorism.”
But at this point, he said, he wasn’t in a position to “denounce or defend” the men who’ve been arrested.
“We trust in the Canadian justice system. So we should wait until the justice system concludes its work. If they are guilty, we will denounce them.”
Young Muslims should not get dragged into the conflicts of the Middle East, the imam said.
“We live in a safe and secure country. Our religion commands us to protect the land where we live.”
Terrorism or radicalism come from “strong emotion and a lack of knowledge,” Khaled said. The solution is for youth to seek education from imams and other scholars so they can “understand the reality of Islam.”
Naeem Malik, the president of the Ottawa Muslim Association, which operates the mosque on Northwestern Avenue, said Ottawa Muslims “are a bit worried” that the arrests could provoke a backlash similar to the one that occurred after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
At that time, he said, Muslim women were harassed, told to remove their headscarves or go back to where they came from.
“People are saying, is it safe to come to the mosque to pray? Are we now going to be attacked?’”
Nobody has been harassed yet, Malik said. “So far everything is under control, and I hope things will stay that way.”
Friday’s sermon at the packed-to-overflowing mosque dealt with the fallout from this week’s arrests, though they were never mentioned directly.
Ehab El-Komy, a member of the board of the Muslim Association of Canada, delivered the sermon because Khaled, whose wife just had a baby, was too exhausted.
Using stories from the Koran to convey his message, El-Komy said upholding peace and security is a “fundamental principle” of Islam. So too, he said, are the presumption of innocence, the rule of law, and due process.
“It’s our responsibility as Muslims and as Canadians to uphold all those principles.”
When things such as this week’s arrests happen, El-Komy said, Muslims have a duty to speak up.
“It is very important for us to understand that we have a responsibility to speak up, not as victims, not as suspects, but as Muslims. And as Muslim Canadians, we have a responsibility to speak up. We have to act when such incidents happen.”
“Every single one of us is at a checkpoint,” El-Komy told worshippers, who filled the mosque and spilled out on to the surrounding property. “And that checkpoint has to be guarded.”
He said some Canadians harbour fears and suspicions in the wake of the arrests, and some are well-founded.
“It’s our responsibility, not theirs, to understand those fears and deal with them in an appropriate manner.”
OTTAWA — The imam of Ottawa’s largest mosque has appealed to Muslim youth to reject terrorism and not import Middle East conflicts to Canada.
In an interview following Friday prayers, Imam Khaled Abdul-Hamid Syed said Muslim Canadians “live in the best country” in the West, one that gives its citizens the freedom to express differing views.
“We don’t need to go in the direction of violence.
“I appeal to the Muslim youth not to get involved in any acts of violence or terrorism or other criminal behaviour,” Khaled said. “Keep away from this.”
He said that he did not perceive a widespread problem with Muslim youth in Ottawa.
“I think we have good youth. They are active and co-operative in this community.”
The imam’s comments follow the arrest of a fourth terrorism suspect in Ottawa on Friday. He has not yet been identified or charged.
Two other Ottawa men, Misbahuddin Ahmed and Hiva Alizadeh, and a London, Ont., doctor, Khurram Syed Sher, were arrested Wednesday and face terrorism charges related to alleged plot to bomb Canadian targets. Sher appeared in Ottawa court Friday.
In general, Khaled said, “we denounce any criminal behaviour or act of terrorism.”
But at this point, he said, he wasn’t in a position to “denounce or defend” the men who’ve been arrested.
“We trust in the Canadian justice system. So we should wait until the justice system concludes its work. If they are guilty, we will denounce them.”
Young Muslims should not get dragged into the conflicts of the Middle East, the imam said.
“We live in a safe and secure country. Our religion commands us to protect the land where we live.”
Terrorism or radicalism come from “strong emotion and a lack of knowledge,” Khaled said. The solution is for youth to seek education from imams and other scholars so they can “understand the reality of Islam.”
Naeem Malik, the president of the Ottawa Muslim Association, which operates the mosque on Northwestern Avenue, said Ottawa Muslims “are a bit worried” that the arrests could provoke a backlash similar to the one that occurred after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
At that time, he said, Muslim women were harassed, told to remove their headscarves or go back to where they came from.
“People are saying, is it safe to come to the mosque to pray? Are we now going to be attacked?’”
Nobody has been harassed yet, Malik said. “So far everything is under control, and I hope things will stay that way.”
Friday’s sermon at the packed-to-overflowing mosque dealt with the fallout from this week’s arrests, though they were never mentioned directly.
Ehab El-Komy, a member of the board of the Muslim Association of Canada, delivered the sermon because Khaled, whose wife just had a baby, was too exhausted.
Using stories from the Koran to convey his message, El-Komy said upholding peace and security is a “fundamental principle” of Islam. So too, he said, are the presumption of innocence, the rule of law, and due process.
“It’s our responsibility as Muslims and as Canadians to uphold all those principles.”
When things such as this week’s arrests happen, El-Komy said, Muslims have a duty to speak up.
“It is very important for us to understand that we have a responsibility to speak up, not as victims, not as suspects, but as Muslims. And as Muslim Canadians, we have a responsibility to speak up. We have to act when such incidents happen.”
“Every single one of us is at a checkpoint,” El-Komy told worshippers, who filled the mosque and spilled out on to the surrounding property. “And that checkpoint has to be guarded.”
He said some Canadians harbour fears and suspicions in the wake of the arrests, and some are well-founded.
“It’s our responsibility, not theirs, to understand those fears and deal with them in an appropriate manner.”
HE'S JUST A COMEDIAN....SAYS LAWYER
*** Let the spin begin! MS ***
OTTAWA — After an early Friday arrest potentially raised the number of people in an alleged Ottawa terror cell to seven, the Citizen has learned there is a possible eighth conspirator in the suspected bomb plot against Parliament Hill and coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Friday’s arrest occured at about 7:30 a.m. when several police vehicles and a heavily armed tactical team converged on a dark coloured Honda in the Hunt Club area of the city.
Police handcuffed the driver and searched the car. RCMP said the man has not been charged yet and as a result his identity is being withheld. Nor would they indicate whether he would be charged.
Three other Canadian men were arrested in Ottawa and London, Ont. Wednesday and Thursday. Three others, believed to be non-citizens and out of the country, are named as unindicted co-conspirators in what police believe was a local terror ring linked to the global Islamist terrorism movement.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior CSIS counter-terrorism agent and one-time RCMP security service officer, said a source close to the investigation has told him at least one suspect, the alleged ringleader Hiva Alizadeh, 30, used Ottawa Public Library computers to communicate with other members of the Ottawa-based cell.
“He was trying to avoid detection and surveillance,” Juneau-Katsuya said. “They wanted to hit Parliament Hill and there was discussion of going against public transportation in Montreal because one of the guys had studied there and new the system.” He added, “they were not excluding the possibility to some major (OC Transpo) hubs,” in Ottawa.
Isabelle Tremblay, spokeswoman for the Société de transport de Montréal, denied the Metro was a target. “We checked with police and the authorities and ... it’s not true,” she said.
Juneau-Katsuya said Internet messages between the men tripped computer “sniffers” at Ottawa’s Communication’s Security Establishment (CSE), the government’s electronic spy agency that intercepts the phone calls and e-mails of Canada’s adversaries.
“One of the (CSE) filters picked up their chat,” said Juneau-Katsuya. “The way the system is established, we’ve got red flags everywhere and you can trip one of those flags anytime. If you’re travelling to Pakistan, that’s a red flag. If you’re going on certain web sites, that’s another red flag and if you use certain key words in e-mail. When you’ve got enough red flags, then you become a person of interest. My understanding is they were caught from the Internet.”
CSE alerted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), he said. At some point, CSIS alerted the RCMP, which launched the major national security investigation.
Juneau-Katsuya said a critical element in the year-long probe involved secretly monitoring the suspects’ e-mail and other communications via the public library computers. Police, he said, obtained the IP addresses from the City of Ottawa.
“This group posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of National Capital Region and Canada’s national security,” RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault, head of criminal operations for the capital region, told an Ottawa news conference Thursday.
Therriault said Project Samossa, which employed about 100 joint-forces officers for the past year, was forced to move on the suspects this week when police learned financial support was about to be transferred from Canada for weapons to attack western coalition forces in Afghanistan.
A veteran Ottawa intelligence expert, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said faced with that possibility, police had little choice but to make arrests.
“These arrests would be required as it is entirely probable that the money would have been used for the purchase of IED’s (improvised explosive devices) or other weapons which would have been targeted against Canadian soldiers or allies in the NATO led force.
“The commanders of such investigations are under multiple pressures, some of which are outside of their control. Investigators working at the front line of the investigation will want to open up more lines of investigation, putting pressure on scarce resources. Intelligence partners will want to continue the investigation to gather more intelligence, often without reference to the risks. Prosecutors want more direct evidence collected.
“But beyond those pressures, the investigation commander has to deal with the brutal facts that the failure to arrest may result in further deaths and injuries. It is a cruel pressure.”
The alleged plot was in its early planning stages and “months” away from being operationally viable, Therriault said. "There remained, throughout, a varied degree of imminence to the threat, whether they were going to conduct an attack or not and how it was going to be done.”
Two of the accused, Alizadeh, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, both of Ottawa, were arrested Wednesday. The third, 28-year-old Khurram Syed Sher, was arrested in London, Ont. Thursday.
They face a variety of terrorism charges under the Criminal Code, including conspiring with at least three others — James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta — and other "persons unknown," who have been at one time or another located in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan, to facilitate “terrorist activity” between February 2008 and Aug. 24.
Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh — police won't say whether he is related to Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh — and Mamosta, all non-Canadians, are not in Canada and have not been charged. Therriault suggested international efforts may be made to arrest them.
Hiva Alizadeh, who lives in a Woodridge Crescent apartment in Bayshore, faces a separate charge of making or having an explosive substance — which can include IED components — in his possession with the intent to endanger life or cause serious damage.
Alizadeh is a member of a group with links to the conflict in Afghanistan, said Therriault, and received overseas training in building and detonating IEDs.
Juneau-Katsuya speculated the money to be sent to Afghanistan may have been payment for Alizadeh’s alleged explosives training.
Raids on Alizadeh’s and Ahmed’s west Ottawa homes Wednesday uncovered more than 50 circuit boards police believe were intended to remotely trigger detonators for improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Also seized were what was described as a “vast quantity” of schematics, videos, drawings, instructions and electronic components for IEDs.
Improvised bombs have been used for decades by terrorists and insurgents, but the war in Iraq accelerated their technological development, making roadside bombs a chief weapon against coalition troops in Afghanistan.
At the same time, with core al-Qaeda on the run in Pakistan and seemingly unable to mount another 9/11-scale attack, local Islamist extremists are turning to smaller attacks with IEDs.
Friday’s arrest involved officers from the Project Samossa investigation. It was witnessed by Hani Halabi who says he was leaving for work after 7:30 a.m. when at least 10 police officers, some carrying rifles, surrounded a dark-coloured car on Esson Street just before Hunt Club Road. The car was badly damaged on the driver’s side and the window was smashed.
“I think they pushed him to stop, that he didn’t stop by himself,” Halabi said, noting the damage.
Undercover cars, a tactical unit black SUV, RCMP and Ottawa police cruisers were parked nearby.
The man in the car looked to be in his late 20s. He was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, Halabi said. An officer approached the door, opened it for the man, and very slowly, the man got out.
He had a beard, “not long but not short,” and looked Indian or Middle Eastern, Halabi said.
The man did not resist arrest and was taken to a nearby cruiser to be handcuffed and searched.
Shortly after police apprehended the suspect they reopened the entrance to Hunt Club Road.
One woman on Esson who lives directly across from the scene said she heard police yelling. She opened her window and saw an officer standing on her lawn with a large automatic weapon.
He looked up at her, she closed her blinds and didn’t look again until everyone had left, she said.
Ottawa police spokeswoman Const. Katherine Larouche confirmed that RCMP conducted a traffic stop on Esson Friday morning and that Ottawa police were at the scene.
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Marc Ménard wouldn’t confirm the stop, and said only that a search warrant associated with Project Samossa had been executed and that someone was taken into custody.
Later in the day, as reports emerged of a related domestic dispute, Ottawa police media relations manager Carole Lavigne said police were investigating a “fallout situation” of domestic dispute.
She would not provide any other details.
In Ottawa’s courtroom No. 6 Friday morning. Khurram Sher, a former Canadian Idol contestant, appeared nervous. He stood in the glass-enclosed prisoner's box with his hands in his pockets before taking them out and crossing them in front of him.
Tall with a scraggly black beard, Sher wore a striped dress shirt and dress pants. He said nothing except to speak to his lawyer in hushed voice.
He was remanded into custody pending an appearance by video next Wednesday with his two Ottawa co-accused who appeared in court Thursday and were remanded into custody.
Sher, who recently moved to London from Montreal, is charged with a single count of conspiracy to facilitate a terrorist offence with Alizadeh and Ahmed.
His lawyer, Anser Farooq, said his client was flown in from London to Ottawa on Thursday after he was arrested. Farooq said his first priority is to work to get Sher released from jail.
“That's my first and foremost focus, to get him out on bail,” he said. "Once we have him out on bail then we will deal with the balance of the Crown's concerns if there are any."
He said Sher seems to be doing OK despite the circumstances.
Farooq said he saw his client's Canadian Idol audition and joked that he needs more practice. He said his client is a funny guy who spoke with a fake accent as a joke during the audition.
“He’s more of a comedian than anything else.”
With files from Meghan Hurley
OTTAWA — After an early Friday arrest potentially raised the number of people in an alleged Ottawa terror cell to seven, the Citizen has learned there is a possible eighth conspirator in the suspected bomb plot against Parliament Hill and coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Friday’s arrest occured at about 7:30 a.m. when several police vehicles and a heavily armed tactical team converged on a dark coloured Honda in the Hunt Club area of the city.
Police handcuffed the driver and searched the car. RCMP said the man has not been charged yet and as a result his identity is being withheld. Nor would they indicate whether he would be charged.
Three other Canadian men were arrested in Ottawa and London, Ont. Wednesday and Thursday. Three others, believed to be non-citizens and out of the country, are named as unindicted co-conspirators in what police believe was a local terror ring linked to the global Islamist terrorism movement.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior CSIS counter-terrorism agent and one-time RCMP security service officer, said a source close to the investigation has told him at least one suspect, the alleged ringleader Hiva Alizadeh, 30, used Ottawa Public Library computers to communicate with other members of the Ottawa-based cell.
“He was trying to avoid detection and surveillance,” Juneau-Katsuya said. “They wanted to hit Parliament Hill and there was discussion of going against public transportation in Montreal because one of the guys had studied there and new the system.” He added, “they were not excluding the possibility to some major (OC Transpo) hubs,” in Ottawa.
Isabelle Tremblay, spokeswoman for the Société de transport de Montréal, denied the Metro was a target. “We checked with police and the authorities and ... it’s not true,” she said.
Juneau-Katsuya said Internet messages between the men tripped computer “sniffers” at Ottawa’s Communication’s Security Establishment (CSE), the government’s electronic spy agency that intercepts the phone calls and e-mails of Canada’s adversaries.
“One of the (CSE) filters picked up their chat,” said Juneau-Katsuya. “The way the system is established, we’ve got red flags everywhere and you can trip one of those flags anytime. If you’re travelling to Pakistan, that’s a red flag. If you’re going on certain web sites, that’s another red flag and if you use certain key words in e-mail. When you’ve got enough red flags, then you become a person of interest. My understanding is they were caught from the Internet.”
CSE alerted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), he said. At some point, CSIS alerted the RCMP, which launched the major national security investigation.
Juneau-Katsuya said a critical element in the year-long probe involved secretly monitoring the suspects’ e-mail and other communications via the public library computers. Police, he said, obtained the IP addresses from the City of Ottawa.
“This group posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of National Capital Region and Canada’s national security,” RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault, head of criminal operations for the capital region, told an Ottawa news conference Thursday.
Therriault said Project Samossa, which employed about 100 joint-forces officers for the past year, was forced to move on the suspects this week when police learned financial support was about to be transferred from Canada for weapons to attack western coalition forces in Afghanistan.
A veteran Ottawa intelligence expert, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said faced with that possibility, police had little choice but to make arrests.
“These arrests would be required as it is entirely probable that the money would have been used for the purchase of IED’s (improvised explosive devices) or other weapons which would have been targeted against Canadian soldiers or allies in the NATO led force.
“The commanders of such investigations are under multiple pressures, some of which are outside of their control. Investigators working at the front line of the investigation will want to open up more lines of investigation, putting pressure on scarce resources. Intelligence partners will want to continue the investigation to gather more intelligence, often without reference to the risks. Prosecutors want more direct evidence collected.
“But beyond those pressures, the investigation commander has to deal with the brutal facts that the failure to arrest may result in further deaths and injuries. It is a cruel pressure.”
The alleged plot was in its early planning stages and “months” away from being operationally viable, Therriault said. "There remained, throughout, a varied degree of imminence to the threat, whether they were going to conduct an attack or not and how it was going to be done.”
Two of the accused, Alizadeh, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, both of Ottawa, were arrested Wednesday. The third, 28-year-old Khurram Syed Sher, was arrested in London, Ont. Thursday.
They face a variety of terrorism charges under the Criminal Code, including conspiring with at least three others — James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta — and other "persons unknown," who have been at one time or another located in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan, to facilitate “terrorist activity” between February 2008 and Aug. 24.
Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh — police won't say whether he is related to Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh — and Mamosta, all non-Canadians, are not in Canada and have not been charged. Therriault suggested international efforts may be made to arrest them.
Hiva Alizadeh, who lives in a Woodridge Crescent apartment in Bayshore, faces a separate charge of making or having an explosive substance — which can include IED components — in his possession with the intent to endanger life or cause serious damage.
Alizadeh is a member of a group with links to the conflict in Afghanistan, said Therriault, and received overseas training in building and detonating IEDs.
Juneau-Katsuya speculated the money to be sent to Afghanistan may have been payment for Alizadeh’s alleged explosives training.
Raids on Alizadeh’s and Ahmed’s west Ottawa homes Wednesday uncovered more than 50 circuit boards police believe were intended to remotely trigger detonators for improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Also seized were what was described as a “vast quantity” of schematics, videos, drawings, instructions and electronic components for IEDs.
Improvised bombs have been used for decades by terrorists and insurgents, but the war in Iraq accelerated their technological development, making roadside bombs a chief weapon against coalition troops in Afghanistan.
At the same time, with core al-Qaeda on the run in Pakistan and seemingly unable to mount another 9/11-scale attack, local Islamist extremists are turning to smaller attacks with IEDs.
Friday’s arrest involved officers from the Project Samossa investigation. It was witnessed by Hani Halabi who says he was leaving for work after 7:30 a.m. when at least 10 police officers, some carrying rifles, surrounded a dark-coloured car on Esson Street just before Hunt Club Road. The car was badly damaged on the driver’s side and the window was smashed.
“I think they pushed him to stop, that he didn’t stop by himself,” Halabi said, noting the damage.
Undercover cars, a tactical unit black SUV, RCMP and Ottawa police cruisers were parked nearby.
The man in the car looked to be in his late 20s. He was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, Halabi said. An officer approached the door, opened it for the man, and very slowly, the man got out.
He had a beard, “not long but not short,” and looked Indian or Middle Eastern, Halabi said.
The man did not resist arrest and was taken to a nearby cruiser to be handcuffed and searched.
Shortly after police apprehended the suspect they reopened the entrance to Hunt Club Road.
One woman on Esson who lives directly across from the scene said she heard police yelling. She opened her window and saw an officer standing on her lawn with a large automatic weapon.
He looked up at her, she closed her blinds and didn’t look again until everyone had left, she said.
Ottawa police spokeswoman Const. Katherine Larouche confirmed that RCMP conducted a traffic stop on Esson Friday morning and that Ottawa police were at the scene.
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Marc Ménard wouldn’t confirm the stop, and said only that a search warrant associated with Project Samossa had been executed and that someone was taken into custody.
Later in the day, as reports emerged of a related domestic dispute, Ottawa police media relations manager Carole Lavigne said police were investigating a “fallout situation” of domestic dispute.
She would not provide any other details.
In Ottawa’s courtroom No. 6 Friday morning. Khurram Sher, a former Canadian Idol contestant, appeared nervous. He stood in the glass-enclosed prisoner's box with his hands in his pockets before taking them out and crossing them in front of him.
Tall with a scraggly black beard, Sher wore a striped dress shirt and dress pants. He said nothing except to speak to his lawyer in hushed voice.
He was remanded into custody pending an appearance by video next Wednesday with his two Ottawa co-accused who appeared in court Thursday and were remanded into custody.
Sher, who recently moved to London from Montreal, is charged with a single count of conspiracy to facilitate a terrorist offence with Alizadeh and Ahmed.
His lawyer, Anser Farooq, said his client was flown in from London to Ottawa on Thursday after he was arrested. Farooq said his first priority is to work to get Sher released from jail.
“That's my first and foremost focus, to get him out on bail,” he said. "Once we have him out on bail then we will deal with the balance of the Crown's concerns if there are any."
He said Sher seems to be doing OK despite the circumstances.
Farooq said he saw his client's Canadian Idol audition and joked that he needs more practice. He said his client is a funny guy who spoke with a fake accent as a joke during the audition.
“He’s more of a comedian than anything else.”
With files from Meghan Hurley
Friday, August 27, 2010
TERRORISM : THEATRE OF THE ABSURD
*** A great article. As usual. MS ***
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/853336--terrorism-s-theatre-of-the-absurd
There is endless fodder for jokes, from the RCMP’s name for the investigation — Project Samosa — to speculation about the doctor-terrorism-suspect moonwalking into court.
The arrests this week of four men police say were involved in a bomb plot — or in the words of one investigator, were hoping to bring the war in Afghanistan here — seem both chilling and ridiculous.
While none of the allegations has been proven in court, even trying to fathom that 28-year-old pathologist and failed Canadian Idol contestant Dr. Khurram Sher could be part of a terrorism conspiracy is difficult.
Soon after Sher’s arrest early Thursday, a YouTube clip of him awkwardly singing and dancing across a Montreal stage for the reality show aired around the world.
But those who study or investigate what police common refer to as “homegrown terrorism” caution against dismissing cases that appear too absurd to be true.
“On the surface, it appears completely counterintuitive. It appears these people have bought into the Canadian or Western dream, or whatever you call it,” said Michael King, a McGill University PhD student researching the psychology of radicalization.
“But for me, as a psychologist anyway researching this, it almost makes sense, because there seems to be a personality characteristic that predisposes people to radicalize — and that is sensation-seeking.”
That certainly was true for some of the young Muslim men who had been romanced by the idea of waging a holy war at home and were recently convicted in the case of the so-called Toronto 18.
A psychiatric report for ringleader Zakaria Amara noted that his spiritual ideal of jihad “stagnated, hardened and sank into self-aggrandizing bravado. The daily drudgery of working in dead-end, low-paying jobs helped create an intellectually stunted environment. Internet jihad videos became more exciting and their causes more urgent.”
It is too early yet to get a clear picture of Sher (friends say he auditioned for Canadian Idol as a joke), or know his alleged level of involvement in the plot, or if there is evidence to support police claims.
But whatever the outcome in this case, terrorism’s theatre of the absurd does not seem that uncommon anymore.
Consider the recent release of the English magazine from a Yemen-based group. Called Inspire, the slick 67-page magazine from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is like a terrorist’s Cosmopolitan with helpful hints on how to encrypt messages, environmental tips from Osama bin Laden, and from Al Qaeda’s “chef,” a feature entitled, “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom.”
Ridiculous, of course, but AQAP is now considered one of the most influential Al Qaeda affiliates and claimed they trained the so-called underwear bomber who nearly brought down a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day.
Since AQAP’s membership is largely Yemen-based, Arabic-speaking and with presumably little access to the Internet, the group is likely trying to reach out to a wider circle of Western recruits with their magazine.
Gavin Cameron, a University of Calgary political science professor and past president of the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies, says the magazine is an example of the “filtration” process for recruitment — something commonly used by terrorist groups.
“It’s basically how you build or sustain a belief community. You draw people in, you have lots of articles to further your perspective in a relatively mainstream way,” he said. (MS: Wow, sounds just like Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck)
“The next stage of the filtration process is maybe now a little more extreme, so you’re winnowing down the group.”
How to stop that process of recruitment or radicalization is what still confounds security officials and community leaders. Some point to the media's coverage of the terrorism cases as part of the problem.
Imam Hamid Slimi, Chair of the Canadian Council of Imams, says he would like to see the end of what he calls the “demonization of Muslims.”
“Unfortunately, when a man is arrested with a machete and chainsaw on the highway in Toronto it’s not called terrorism . . . but when a Muslim person does something it’s Islam, it’s terrorism,” he said.
Two weeks ago the Canadian Council of Imams issued a one-page declaration stating that human life is more sacred than religious law. It’s the first time the Muslim leaders of a country have signed such a declaration and while it garnered much international attention, Slimi said it received little coverage in Canada. (Absolutely right on point. Another example: a 600-page fatwa against terror only get a headline - it should be published and made available widely)
“It’s only the bad news that’s covered,” he said.
King agreed that much of what seems to radicalize is the perception of a war against Islam.
“That’s a hard narrative to fight right now,” he says. “We have boots on the ground in Afghanistan, the West invaded Iraq, we didn’t recognize the elected government in Palestine. How do we fight this narrative?”
King said news reports that glorify or sensationalize terrorist plots only helps to recruit others.
“The media might play a role in helping radicalize others by taking these goofy cases and using words like operatives, ‘covertly trying to do this, or that,’ adding a more serious, sinister, cool, more glamorized image.”
The best way to fight it, he suggest, is to satirize it.
“I personally don’t think we can fight this narrative . . . instead, make them look like idiots.” (MS: Notwithstanding their amazing ability to do quite a good job of them all by themselves. Families not laughing. Community is not laughing. )
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/853336--terrorism-s-theatre-of-the-absurd
There is endless fodder for jokes, from the RCMP’s name for the investigation — Project Samosa — to speculation about the doctor-terrorism-suspect moonwalking into court.
The arrests this week of four men police say were involved in a bomb plot — or in the words of one investigator, were hoping to bring the war in Afghanistan here — seem both chilling and ridiculous.
While none of the allegations has been proven in court, even trying to fathom that 28-year-old pathologist and failed Canadian Idol contestant Dr. Khurram Sher could be part of a terrorism conspiracy is difficult.
Soon after Sher’s arrest early Thursday, a YouTube clip of him awkwardly singing and dancing across a Montreal stage for the reality show aired around the world.
But those who study or investigate what police common refer to as “homegrown terrorism” caution against dismissing cases that appear too absurd to be true.
“On the surface, it appears completely counterintuitive. It appears these people have bought into the Canadian or Western dream, or whatever you call it,” said Michael King, a McGill University PhD student researching the psychology of radicalization.
“But for me, as a psychologist anyway researching this, it almost makes sense, because there seems to be a personality characteristic that predisposes people to radicalize — and that is sensation-seeking.”
That certainly was true for some of the young Muslim men who had been romanced by the idea of waging a holy war at home and were recently convicted in the case of the so-called Toronto 18.
A psychiatric report for ringleader Zakaria Amara noted that his spiritual ideal of jihad “stagnated, hardened and sank into self-aggrandizing bravado. The daily drudgery of working in dead-end, low-paying jobs helped create an intellectually stunted environment. Internet jihad videos became more exciting and their causes more urgent.”
It is too early yet to get a clear picture of Sher (friends say he auditioned for Canadian Idol as a joke), or know his alleged level of involvement in the plot, or if there is evidence to support police claims.
But whatever the outcome in this case, terrorism’s theatre of the absurd does not seem that uncommon anymore.
Consider the recent release of the English magazine from a Yemen-based group. Called Inspire, the slick 67-page magazine from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is like a terrorist’s Cosmopolitan with helpful hints on how to encrypt messages, environmental tips from Osama bin Laden, and from Al Qaeda’s “chef,” a feature entitled, “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom.”
Ridiculous, of course, but AQAP is now considered one of the most influential Al Qaeda affiliates and claimed they trained the so-called underwear bomber who nearly brought down a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day.
Since AQAP’s membership is largely Yemen-based, Arabic-speaking and with presumably little access to the Internet, the group is likely trying to reach out to a wider circle of Western recruits with their magazine.
Gavin Cameron, a University of Calgary political science professor and past president of the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies, says the magazine is an example of the “filtration” process for recruitment — something commonly used by terrorist groups.
“It’s basically how you build or sustain a belief community. You draw people in, you have lots of articles to further your perspective in a relatively mainstream way,” he said. (MS: Wow, sounds just like Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck)
“The next stage of the filtration process is maybe now a little more extreme, so you’re winnowing down the group.”
How to stop that process of recruitment or radicalization is what still confounds security officials and community leaders. Some point to the media's coverage of the terrorism cases as part of the problem.
Imam Hamid Slimi, Chair of the Canadian Council of Imams, says he would like to see the end of what he calls the “demonization of Muslims.”
“Unfortunately, when a man is arrested with a machete and chainsaw on the highway in Toronto it’s not called terrorism . . . but when a Muslim person does something it’s Islam, it’s terrorism,” he said.
Two weeks ago the Canadian Council of Imams issued a one-page declaration stating that human life is more sacred than religious law. It’s the first time the Muslim leaders of a country have signed such a declaration and while it garnered much international attention, Slimi said it received little coverage in Canada. (Absolutely right on point. Another example: a 600-page fatwa against terror only get a headline - it should be published and made available widely)
“It’s only the bad news that’s covered,” he said.
King agreed that much of what seems to radicalize is the perception of a war against Islam.
“That’s a hard narrative to fight right now,” he says. “We have boots on the ground in Afghanistan, the West invaded Iraq, we didn’t recognize the elected government in Palestine. How do we fight this narrative?”
King said news reports that glorify or sensationalize terrorist plots only helps to recruit others.
“The media might play a role in helping radicalize others by taking these goofy cases and using words like operatives, ‘covertly trying to do this, or that,’ adding a more serious, sinister, cool, more glamorized image.”
The best way to fight it, he suggest, is to satirize it.
“I personally don’t think we can fight this narrative . . . instead, make them look like idiots.” (MS: Notwithstanding their amazing ability to do quite a good job of them all by themselves. Families not laughing. Community is not laughing. )
CSIS / RCMP MAKE GAIN IN STATURE WITH ARRESTS
If any comfort can come out of the raid in Ottawa, which took down an alleged domestic terrorism cell, it's that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) may have finally found its stride.
It's closing in on elite status.
Finally, it can put behind the dysfunction of its Air India investigation of 25 years ago when CSIS, in its infancy, didn't share information (/informants - MS) with the RCMP, and the RCMP reciprocated with equal contempt.
Now it is gaining some stature.
Some international credibility.
With its success in the detection of the Toronto 18, and its role in the takedown in Ottawa of yet another alleged homegrown terrorist operation by integrated police forces led by the RCMP, it can be almost be spoken in the same breath as Britain's MI6. (MI-6 is international, MI-5 domestic, like CSIS)
This is no small feat.
CSIS and the RCMP are now on the same page, which bodes well for our security and the global war on terrorism. After all, there are snakes in every rock pile.
Back in May, CSIS director Dick Fadden told a Commons committee his spies were monitoring 200 such rock piles in Canada, one of them obviously being Operation Samosa, which now has three men linked to al-Qaida under arrest, including a 2008 Canadian Idol reject who savagely butchered an Avril Lavigne tune.
It's Complicated -- the song, as well as this scenario.
But do not immediately dismiss this Idol clown as some fumbling incompetent. If you do, do so at your peril.
As Fadden put it, "Accused terrorists are routinely portrayed as being too unsophisticated, ill-prepared or youthful to actually commit heinous acts.
"This theme permeated coverage of those charged in the Toronto plot," he added. "Some terrorists are, like those many spy novels, enormously resourceful and talented. Others are simply determined, but fairly average foot soldiers."
Fadden then cited Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. While he was not a particularly gifted individual, said Fadden, his 1995 actions nonetheless killed 168 people, injured almost 700, and damaged more than 300 buildings within a 16-block radius.
In other words, just because someone can't sing, doesn't mean he cannot set off an IED detonator.
The song may have been Complicated.
But bombs aren't.
It's closing in on elite status.
Finally, it can put behind the dysfunction of its Air India investigation of 25 years ago when CSIS, in its infancy, didn't share information (/informants - MS) with the RCMP, and the RCMP reciprocated with equal contempt.
Now it is gaining some stature.
Some international credibility.
With its success in the detection of the Toronto 18, and its role in the takedown in Ottawa of yet another alleged homegrown terrorist operation by integrated police forces led by the RCMP, it can be almost be spoken in the same breath as Britain's MI6. (MI-6 is international, MI-5 domestic, like CSIS)
This is no small feat.
CSIS and the RCMP are now on the same page, which bodes well for our security and the global war on terrorism. After all, there are snakes in every rock pile.
Back in May, CSIS director Dick Fadden told a Commons committee his spies were monitoring 200 such rock piles in Canada, one of them obviously being Operation Samosa, which now has three men linked to al-Qaida under arrest, including a 2008 Canadian Idol reject who savagely butchered an Avril Lavigne tune.
It's Complicated -- the song, as well as this scenario.
But do not immediately dismiss this Idol clown as some fumbling incompetent. If you do, do so at your peril.
As Fadden put it, "Accused terrorists are routinely portrayed as being too unsophisticated, ill-prepared or youthful to actually commit heinous acts.
"This theme permeated coverage of those charged in the Toronto plot," he added. "Some terrorists are, like those many spy novels, enormously resourceful and talented. Others are simply determined, but fairly average foot soldiers."
Fadden then cited Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. While he was not a particularly gifted individual, said Fadden, his 1995 actions nonetheless killed 168 people, injured almost 700, and damaged more than 300 buildings within a 16-block radius.
In other words, just because someone can't sing, doesn't mean he cannot set off an IED detonator.
The song may have been Complicated.
But bombs aren't.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
HOMEGROWN THREAT ON THE RISE
*** They have not spoken to a single Muslim leader or even a Muslim expert on terrorism and radicalization - in fact, I think they are plagiarizing from some information that was given to them a couple of years ago (waiting for confirmation) in which I was involved.
On top of that the RCMP is doing its own thing and CSIS is doing its own thing. And how many millions of dollars is this costing? I could devise a program for HALF the cost in HALF the time - and they know it but hey, what would I know? MS ***
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews on Thursday applauded the co-ordinated efforts of police and intelligence forces who say they foiled an Ottawa-based terror plot, but said the incident underscores the burgeoning threat of homegrown terrorism.
"There is a growing concern about radicalization inside Canada — so that is, homegrown terrorism," said Toews. "That is a phenomena that we have seen in many Western democracies, and it's a relatively new phenomena that we must be very vigilant about."
Toews called on Canadians to stand up against terrorist threats, suggesting leaders from various communities in Canada should approach the government if they have information that threatens public safety. (MS: Sure, just as long as you give the community credit for helping you instead of taking the information and then leaving the community to suffer accusations of "you're not doing enough")
The co-ordination between the RCMP, CSIS and various police groups during the yearlong Project Samossa investigation, which resulted in the arrests this week of two Ottawa men and another from St. Thomas, Ont., was quickly praised by experts, who said the arrests were a success and proved the lessons learned in the intelligence community from Air India.
However, former CSIS senior manager Michel Juneau-Katsuya said Canada has a lot of work to do when it comes to building diplomacy around the world.
"Is it on the grand scale, the big picture, a great success? It's a temporary success," he said.
"If we don't go to the root cause of terrorism, we're still going to have more guys who are going to be pissed at us, and will succeed one day," said Juneau-Katsuya, a criminal-intelligence expert for 30 years.
Canada also lacks a national counter-radicalization strategy, although a senior RCMP officer says discussions are underway.
"It's not in place yet," Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud, head of National Security Criminal Investigations, said recently, before this weeks arrests in Ottawa.
"Right now it's very piecemeal. Ourselves, we're doing something, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is doing something. But it's broader than that." (MS: Yes, they have ignored everything I have conveyed to them on this subject. They think they know best - typical RCMP attitude)
Interviews with officials and de-classified documents indicate that counter-terrorism agencies have been fighting a behind-the-scenes battle to identify Canadians who are radicalizing and, in some cases, taking steps to intervene.
When investigators suspect a Canadian is preparing to travel overseas for training or to join a terrorist group such as Al-Shabab in Somalia, for example, they have been conducting interventions. That may involve visiting the person or, if they are young, breaking the news to their parents.
The government has also been funding academic research on radicalization and studying what other countries are doing.
But Mubin Shaikh, who worked as an undercover CSIS and RCMP agent during the Toronto 18 terror investigation, said if a national strategy is in the works, the Muslim community had not been informed.
"Exactly who are they developing this in conjunction with? There is not a single Muslim leader that they have spoken with (that I know of)," he said. "If the program does not have legitimacy with the masses, it will be worthless and useless."
Meanwhile, a declassified CSIS report released under the Access to Information Act concludes there is no single "best strategy" for fighting radicalization and that regardless of efforts to stop them, some will still become terrorists.
The three men arrested are accused of conspiring with others in Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan to build improvised explosive devices for attacks in Canada and to raise money to fund IED attacks on Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
While officials were mum on potential targets, Juneau-Katsuya said al-Qaida "likes to hit icons," such as the Parliament buildings.
An RCMP spokesman said the accused had IED parts, including more than 50 circuit boards that could be used to remotely detonate bombs, but wouldn't say if the group had explosives.
The investigation was intended to prevent the use of the IEDs against coalition forces and Canadian troops, said RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault.
Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, from Ottawa, are charged, along with Khurram Syed Sher, 28, of London, Ont.
The charges allege they conspired with three other people — identified as James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta — and other "persons unknown" to facilitate "terrorist activity" between February 2008 and Aug. 24 of this year.
Alizadeh also faces charges in relation to making an explosive device and funding a terrorist group.
With files from Ottawa Citizen
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Homegrown+terror+threat+rise+Toews/3446864/story.html#ixzz0xmF2v1HB
On top of that the RCMP is doing its own thing and CSIS is doing its own thing. And how many millions of dollars is this costing? I could devise a program for HALF the cost in HALF the time - and they know it but hey, what would I know? MS ***
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews on Thursday applauded the co-ordinated efforts of police and intelligence forces who say they foiled an Ottawa-based terror plot, but said the incident underscores the burgeoning threat of homegrown terrorism.
"There is a growing concern about radicalization inside Canada — so that is, homegrown terrorism," said Toews. "That is a phenomena that we have seen in many Western democracies, and it's a relatively new phenomena that we must be very vigilant about."
Toews called on Canadians to stand up against terrorist threats, suggesting leaders from various communities in Canada should approach the government if they have information that threatens public safety. (MS: Sure, just as long as you give the community credit for helping you instead of taking the information and then leaving the community to suffer accusations of "you're not doing enough")
The co-ordination between the RCMP, CSIS and various police groups during the yearlong Project Samossa investigation, which resulted in the arrests this week of two Ottawa men and another from St. Thomas, Ont., was quickly praised by experts, who said the arrests were a success and proved the lessons learned in the intelligence community from Air India.
However, former CSIS senior manager Michel Juneau-Katsuya said Canada has a lot of work to do when it comes to building diplomacy around the world.
"Is it on the grand scale, the big picture, a great success? It's a temporary success," he said.
"If we don't go to the root cause of terrorism, we're still going to have more guys who are going to be pissed at us, and will succeed one day," said Juneau-Katsuya, a criminal-intelligence expert for 30 years.
Canada also lacks a national counter-radicalization strategy, although a senior RCMP officer says discussions are underway.
"It's not in place yet," Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud, head of National Security Criminal Investigations, said recently, before this weeks arrests in Ottawa.
"Right now it's very piecemeal. Ourselves, we're doing something, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is doing something. But it's broader than that." (MS: Yes, they have ignored everything I have conveyed to them on this subject. They think they know best - typical RCMP attitude)
Interviews with officials and de-classified documents indicate that counter-terrorism agencies have been fighting a behind-the-scenes battle to identify Canadians who are radicalizing and, in some cases, taking steps to intervene.
When investigators suspect a Canadian is preparing to travel overseas for training or to join a terrorist group such as Al-Shabab in Somalia, for example, they have been conducting interventions. That may involve visiting the person or, if they are young, breaking the news to their parents.
The government has also been funding academic research on radicalization and studying what other countries are doing.
But Mubin Shaikh, who worked as an undercover CSIS and RCMP agent during the Toronto 18 terror investigation, said if a national strategy is in the works, the Muslim community had not been informed.
"Exactly who are they developing this in conjunction with? There is not a single Muslim leader that they have spoken with (that I know of)," he said. "If the program does not have legitimacy with the masses, it will be worthless and useless."
Meanwhile, a declassified CSIS report released under the Access to Information Act concludes there is no single "best strategy" for fighting radicalization and that regardless of efforts to stop them, some will still become terrorists.
The three men arrested are accused of conspiring with others in Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan to build improvised explosive devices for attacks in Canada and to raise money to fund IED attacks on Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
While officials were mum on potential targets, Juneau-Katsuya said al-Qaida "likes to hit icons," such as the Parliament buildings.
An RCMP spokesman said the accused had IED parts, including more than 50 circuit boards that could be used to remotely detonate bombs, but wouldn't say if the group had explosives.
The investigation was intended to prevent the use of the IEDs against coalition forces and Canadian troops, said RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault.
Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, from Ottawa, are charged, along with Khurram Syed Sher, 28, of London, Ont.
The charges allege they conspired with three other people — identified as James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta — and other "persons unknown" to facilitate "terrorist activity" between February 2008 and Aug. 24 of this year.
Alizadeh also faces charges in relation to making an explosive device and funding a terrorist group.
With files from Ottawa Citizen
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Homegrown+terror+threat+rise+Toews/3446864/story.html#ixzz0xmF2v1HB
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
MUSLIMS SHOCKED - DISMAYED - FRUSTRATED AT OTTAWA ARRESTS
*** Denouncing armed jihad will NOT prevent criminal extremism - counter radicalization programs WILL but nothing will eliminate it totally. This is a real Long War. MS ***
Canadian Muslim leaders were variously stunned, outraged and wary at news from Ottawa on Wednesday that the RCMP had broken up an alleged terrorism cell with suspected links to al-Qaeda.
Few details were released about the people rounded up in the bust, but they are suspected of planning a terrorist attack in the country, and authorities anticipate more arrests.
“It’s sad to hear such news. It’s disturbing,” said Imam Habeeb Alli, secretary of the Canadian Council of Imams. “It’s very disturbing, and I hope the proper wheels of justice will be set in motion to ensure we get to the bottom of the story.”
The Muslim Canadian Congress expressed “shock” at the developments, but also commended RCMP for the operation.
“Thank God these men were stopped before they could carry out their alleged plot,” said vice-president Salma Siddiqui.
The organization warned, however, that until Canada’s Muslim leadership unequivocally denounces the doctrine of armed jihad, Wednesday's terrorism arrests will not be the last. Radical figures are becoming “heroes,” Ms. Siddiqui said, and leaders in the Muslim community have a duty to diminish them.
“It’s more of an anger and a frustration,” she said of her reaction to Wednesday's arrests, “because it shouldn’t happen. This has got to stop.”
The Ottawa case is considered the most significant counterterrorism operation in Canada since the 2006 Toronto 18 arrests, which saw a group of young men rounded up for plotting to storm Parliament and decimate blocks of downtown Toronto with powerful truck bombs.
When the Toronto 18 sweep first grabbed headlines four years ago, it was greeted with a combination of outrage and denial, with some members of the Muslim community viewing the suspects as wrongfully persecuted heroes, and others taking the opportunity to warn of the rising threat of homegrown terrorism.
The ringleader in the Ottawa case allegedly attended training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan; similarly, in the Toronto 18 case, ringleader Fahim Ahmad was linked with a network of extremists stretching from Canada and the United States to Pakistan and the Balkans.
Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said yesterday’s arrests felt like “deja vu,” and blasted mosque leadership for failing to recognize the legitimate threat of homegrown extremism, even after a series of convictions in the Toronto 18 case. The mosque establishment, Mr. Fatah suggested, “keeps on saying that everything is safe, but it isn’t.”
Mr. Alli says Islamic leaders are constantly concerned about the threat of radicalization, and work to engage youths “in a constructive way.” But Scarborough imam Aly Hindy — who still believes too many people were rounded up the Toronto 18 case, and most meant no harm to Canadians — derides the “so-called war against terrorism,” suggesting the threat is largely exaggerated.
“We don’t have this feeling of any danger. We feel very safe,” he said.
Some said Wednesday's arrests, though they came without warning, were actually no surprise — including Mubin Shaikh, the police agent who helped to dismantle the Toronto 18 cell and is now studying counter terrorism through a school in Australia.
“The trajectory toward radicalization is on an incline. It’s just going to get worse,” he said, calling for more government funds to address the issue. “There is no political will to engage the communities with any meaningful counter-radicalization program, and in the absence of such, these kinds of arrests will be inevitable.
“And these are just the people getting caught,” Mr. Shaikh added. “They’ll get smarter.”
National Post
motoole@nationalpost.com
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Canadian+Muslim+leaders+shocked+Ottawa+arrests/3442567/story.html#ixzz0xeplNhPK
Canadian Muslim leaders were variously stunned, outraged and wary at news from Ottawa on Wednesday that the RCMP had broken up an alleged terrorism cell with suspected links to al-Qaeda.
Few details were released about the people rounded up in the bust, but they are suspected of planning a terrorist attack in the country, and authorities anticipate more arrests.
“It’s sad to hear such news. It’s disturbing,” said Imam Habeeb Alli, secretary of the Canadian Council of Imams. “It’s very disturbing, and I hope the proper wheels of justice will be set in motion to ensure we get to the bottom of the story.”
The Muslim Canadian Congress expressed “shock” at the developments, but also commended RCMP for the operation.
“Thank God these men were stopped before they could carry out their alleged plot,” said vice-president Salma Siddiqui.
The organization warned, however, that until Canada’s Muslim leadership unequivocally denounces the doctrine of armed jihad, Wednesday's terrorism arrests will not be the last. Radical figures are becoming “heroes,” Ms. Siddiqui said, and leaders in the Muslim community have a duty to diminish them.
“It’s more of an anger and a frustration,” she said of her reaction to Wednesday's arrests, “because it shouldn’t happen. This has got to stop.”
The Ottawa case is considered the most significant counterterrorism operation in Canada since the 2006 Toronto 18 arrests, which saw a group of young men rounded up for plotting to storm Parliament and decimate blocks of downtown Toronto with powerful truck bombs.
When the Toronto 18 sweep first grabbed headlines four years ago, it was greeted with a combination of outrage and denial, with some members of the Muslim community viewing the suspects as wrongfully persecuted heroes, and others taking the opportunity to warn of the rising threat of homegrown terrorism.
The ringleader in the Ottawa case allegedly attended training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan; similarly, in the Toronto 18 case, ringleader Fahim Ahmad was linked with a network of extremists stretching from Canada and the United States to Pakistan and the Balkans.
Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said yesterday’s arrests felt like “deja vu,” and blasted mosque leadership for failing to recognize the legitimate threat of homegrown extremism, even after a series of convictions in the Toronto 18 case. The mosque establishment, Mr. Fatah suggested, “keeps on saying that everything is safe, but it isn’t.”
Mr. Alli says Islamic leaders are constantly concerned about the threat of radicalization, and work to engage youths “in a constructive way.” But Scarborough imam Aly Hindy — who still believes too many people were rounded up the Toronto 18 case, and most meant no harm to Canadians — derides the “so-called war against terrorism,” suggesting the threat is largely exaggerated.
“We don’t have this feeling of any danger. We feel very safe,” he said.
Some said Wednesday's arrests, though they came without warning, were actually no surprise — including Mubin Shaikh, the police agent who helped to dismantle the Toronto 18 cell and is now studying counter terrorism through a school in Australia.
“The trajectory toward radicalization is on an incline. It’s just going to get worse,” he said, calling for more government funds to address the issue. “There is no political will to engage the communities with any meaningful counter-radicalization program, and in the absence of such, these kinds of arrests will be inevitable.
“And these are just the people getting caught,” Mr. Shaikh added. “They’ll get smarter.”
National Post
motoole@nationalpost.com
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Canadian+Muslim+leaders+shocked+Ottawa+arrests/3442567/story.html#ixzz0xeplNhPK
TWO ARRESTED AS PART OF TERROR CELL - OTTAWA
*** Standard kudos to all involved. Yet another proof that radicalization is increasing - question is: is there a plan? I have yet to see one. MS ***
OTTAWA — The RCMP dismantled an alleged Ottawa terrorist cell with suspected links to al-Qaeda on Wednesday morning, making 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 on Wednesday 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 on Wednesday afternoon.
“Search warrants are being executed in order to secure additional evidence. More arrests are anticipated.”
The suspects have not been named publicly.
The case is considered the most significant counter-terrorism operation in Canada since Project Osage, the 2006 arrests of the Toronto 18, young al-Qaeda-inspired extremists who plotted attacks in southern Ontario.
Although police have released little information on Wednesday, the case appears to fit the pattern of so-called homegrown terrorists, the term for Canadians who have become radicalized and adopted the al-Qaeda ideology.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews could not be reached for comment but a Public Safety spokesman said on Wednesday morning “the government of Canada recognizes that violent extremism and radicalization pose a serious threat to Canada’s national security.
“The government continues to participate in activities to better understand extremism throughout the world and the motivations of individuals who engage in terrorism,” David Charbonneau said. (MS: Just not involving the Muslim community of course.)
Coming on the heels of the failed Times Square bombing and the Fort Hood shooting, the alleged plot could be the latest attempt by remnants and affiliates of al-Qaeda 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-Qaeda 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, when he would have already been briefed on the suspected Ottawa group, Minister 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.” (MS: And how do you propose to do that without engaging the Muslim community sir?)
He said indoctrination and radicalization were occurring partly on the Internet and the speed at which they were radicalizing was proving a challenge for police and intelligence agencies. (MS: Some of these nutjobs are just not deterred by police activity - like the Toronto 18 - you need to be PROactive not REactive. Believe me, they will adapt.)
“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
sbell@nationalpost.com
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/RCMP+dismantle+alleged+Ottawa+terrorist+cell/3441688/story.html#ixzz0xdtiQPyT
OTTAWA — The RCMP dismantled an alleged Ottawa terrorist cell with suspected links to al-Qaeda on Wednesday morning, making 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 on Wednesday 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 on Wednesday afternoon.
“Search warrants are being executed in order to secure additional evidence. More arrests are anticipated.”
The suspects have not been named publicly.
The case is considered the most significant counter-terrorism operation in Canada since Project Osage, the 2006 arrests of the Toronto 18, young al-Qaeda-inspired extremists who plotted attacks in southern Ontario.
Although police have released little information on Wednesday, the case appears to fit the pattern of so-called homegrown terrorists, the term for Canadians who have become radicalized and adopted the al-Qaeda ideology.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews could not be reached for comment but a Public Safety spokesman said on Wednesday morning “the government of Canada recognizes that violent extremism and radicalization pose a serious threat to Canada’s national security.
“The government continues to participate in activities to better understand extremism throughout the world and the motivations of individuals who engage in terrorism,” David Charbonneau said. (MS: Just not involving the Muslim community of course.)
Coming on the heels of the failed Times Square bombing and the Fort Hood shooting, the alleged plot could be the latest attempt by remnants and affiliates of al-Qaeda 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-Qaeda 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, when he would have already been briefed on the suspected Ottawa group, Minister 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.” (MS: And how do you propose to do that without engaging the Muslim community sir?)
He said indoctrination and radicalization were occurring partly on the Internet and the speed at which they were radicalizing was proving a challenge for police and intelligence agencies. (MS: Some of these nutjobs are just not deterred by police activity - like the Toronto 18 - you need to be PROactive not REactive. Believe me, they will adapt.)
“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
sbell@nationalpost.com
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/RCMP+dismantle+alleged+Ottawa+terrorist+cell/3441688/story.html#ixzz0xdtiQPyT
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