A Superior Court judge has meted out the lightest sentence to date among the adults convicted in the Toronto 18 terrorism plot.
Asad Ansari, 25, became a free man yesterday after receiving six years and five months — the equivalent of time served — for his participation in the group, which plotted devastating attacks in Toronto and Ottawa. The offence carries a maximum jail term of 10 years.
“While Mr. Ansari’s involvement in the offence was serious, it is not at the most serious end of the scale,” Justice Fletcher Dawson asserted in his 12-page ruling.
Ansari has been out on strict house-arrest bail for more than a year awaiting trial and sentencing. Taken on a two-for-one basis, his sentence is equivalent to the almost three years and three months he spent in pretrial custody. Judge Dawson, who also handed Ansari three years of probation, said it would be an “unjust hardship” to return him to prison at this juncture.
Ansari’s sentence is the lightest among the adults convicted in the Toronto 18 plot, though one youth received less time, having been released on time served more than a year ago.
After a lengthy joint trial with another co-accused, Ansari was convicted in June of participating in the Toronto 18, which planned to storm Parliament and detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto. Authorities dismantled the homegrown cell in June 2006.
In his ruling, Judge Dawson pointed out Ansari was not charged in the bomb plot, and said his involvement in a terrorist training camp in the winter of 2005 was “more limited” than that of other group members.
During that camp, the court has heard, participants wore camouflage clothing and engaged in paramilitary drills.
“I am satisfied that once [Ansari] was there, the nature of the camp would have been apparent to him,” Judge Dawson said, rejecting testimony from Ansari, who said he was unaware of any terrorist implications.
“The jury obviously found that Mr. Ansari’s testimony was not credible,” Judge Dawson said. “I must say I reached the same conclusion.”
The Crown has painted Ansari as the group’s technical expert, one who helped edit video footage of the training camp and cleared malicious software from ringleader Fahim Ahmad’s computer. Judge Dawson said it was clear Ansari “pledged his computer skills for the benefit of the group.”
Ansari, who strolled out of court yesterday with his mother, declined to comment on the ruling. His lawyer, Breese Davies, lauded the judge’s “fit sentence” but said her client would be appealing his conviction within 30 days.
“He gave an innocent explanation [for his involvement in the group] and he maintains that position,” Ms. Davies said. Still, she added, “we are glad that this part is over. He can focus on moving on with his life.”
Upon hearing of the ruling, Public Safety Minster Vic Toews issued a statement highlighting the government’s recent decision to end the practice of granting convicts two-for-one credit for pretrial custody.
“Part of keeping our communities safe is keeping dangerous criminals behind bars, not releasing them into our streets early… Canadians believe this is unacceptable, and our government will continue to put the rights of victims ahead of the rights of criminals,” Mr. Toews said.
Ansari is one of the final Toronto 18 members to be sentenced. Ringleader Ahmad is to be sentenced this month, with Steven Chand and Shareef Abdelhaleem following in November. Seven of the group members were released without charges, and seven others have been convicted and sentenced.
*** Minister Toews and the CONservative party has no credibility in trying to use this as a proof of any sort about their worth in the national security file. The solution is not to jail everyone forever and ever while ignoring and neglecting the CAUSES that give rise to radicalization leading to terrorism. If you want to keep applying band-aids - you'll only end up looking like my 5 year old kid who does the same thinking that by applying all those bandaids, he is healed.
This CON government has done NOTHING to convince me of their sincerity in dealing with the scourge of homegrown radicalization we are facing. They are being opportunist (as usual) and here is their latest example. MS ***
Showing posts with label asad ansari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asad ansari. Show all posts
Monday, October 4, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
TORONTO 18 ASAD ANSARI GETS TIME SERVED
*** A bit player goes home. MS ***
BRAMPTON — One of the final men convicted in the Toronto 18 terrorist plot is set to become an officially free man next week.
Asad Ansari, 25, was convicted in June of participating in the terrorist group, which plotted to storm Parliament and detonate powerful truck bombs in downtown Toronto.
“He was the technical expert of Fahim Ahmad’s terrorist group,” Crown attorney Sarah Shaikh said this morning during Ansari’s sentencing hearing in Superior Court. Ringleader Ahmad, 26, is also embroiled in sentencing proceedings today.
Both the Crown and the defence are calling for Ansari to be sentenced to time served, and Justice Fletcher Dawson has indicated he will accept their submissions. His formal decision will come down Oct. 4.
With two-for-one credit taken into account, Ansari has effectively served six years and five months of prison time. He has been on strict house-arrest bail since August 2009, and Justice Fletcher Dawson said it would be “a real hardship” to send him back to prison at this juncture.
“I think that would be unfair,” Judge Dawson said, noting “it’s obvious [Ansari] is taking steps to undergo his education and rehabilitate himself.”
Defence lawyer John Norris said his client has been taking courses and is “moving his life once again in a very positive direction.”
Ansari has been characterized in court as a minor player in the Toronto 18 plot. He attended a terrorist training camp in the winter of 2005, but says he did not know its true purpose at the time.
The Crown disputes that contention, pointing to various militaristic activities at the camp and the presence of a black-and-white jihadi-style flag.
“When he saw the black flag… He certainly would have known by that time that he was attending a terrorist camp,” Ms. Shaikh said.
She also pointed to evidence of how Ansari, a technical whiz, assisted Ahmad by clearing terrorist material and malicious software from his computer: “He essentially wiped [it] clean.”
The defence and the Crown are both recommending a three-year probationary term for Ansari, but there is some dispute over how stringent the conditions should be — a matter the judge will resolve when he hands down his final decision next Monday.
Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/09/27/toronto-18s-asad-ansari-to-be-sentenced/#ixzz10lYa7lZo
BRAMPTON — One of the final men convicted in the Toronto 18 terrorist plot is set to become an officially free man next week.
Asad Ansari, 25, was convicted in June of participating in the terrorist group, which plotted to storm Parliament and detonate powerful truck bombs in downtown Toronto.
“He was the technical expert of Fahim Ahmad’s terrorist group,” Crown attorney Sarah Shaikh said this morning during Ansari’s sentencing hearing in Superior Court. Ringleader Ahmad, 26, is also embroiled in sentencing proceedings today.
Both the Crown and the defence are calling for Ansari to be sentenced to time served, and Justice Fletcher Dawson has indicated he will accept their submissions. His formal decision will come down Oct. 4.
With two-for-one credit taken into account, Ansari has effectively served six years and five months of prison time. He has been on strict house-arrest bail since August 2009, and Justice Fletcher Dawson said it would be “a real hardship” to send him back to prison at this juncture.
“I think that would be unfair,” Judge Dawson said, noting “it’s obvious [Ansari] is taking steps to undergo his education and rehabilitate himself.”
Defence lawyer John Norris said his client has been taking courses and is “moving his life once again in a very positive direction.”
Ansari has been characterized in court as a minor player in the Toronto 18 plot. He attended a terrorist training camp in the winter of 2005, but says he did not know its true purpose at the time.
The Crown disputes that contention, pointing to various militaristic activities at the camp and the presence of a black-and-white jihadi-style flag.
“When he saw the black flag… He certainly would have known by that time that he was attending a terrorist camp,” Ms. Shaikh said.
She also pointed to evidence of how Ansari, a technical whiz, assisted Ahmad by clearing terrorist material and malicious software from his computer: “He essentially wiped [it] clean.”
The defence and the Crown are both recommending a three-year probationary term for Ansari, but there is some dispute over how stringent the conditions should be — a matter the judge will resolve when he hands down his final decision next Monday.
Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/09/27/toronto-18s-asad-ansari-to-be-sentenced/#ixzz10lYa7lZo
Friday, June 18, 2010
TORONTO 18 CASE - INTERATIONAL LINKS
*** Too bad that 4 years had to pass - and for a false narrative to have taken hold by armchair pundits who pronounced verdicts even before the trial began! NOW - 4 years later - the public will start to hear more of what they should have been given the first time: the truth. MS ***
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/18/toronto-18-jury.html
Toronto 18 details emerge as jury sequestered
What the jury didn't get to hear about Fahim Ahmad
A jury in Brampton, Ont., has started to deliberate in the latest trial for those accused in the Toronto 18 extremist plot case.
The jurors were sequestered Friday after the judge finished instructing them in the case presented against the two accused, Steven Chand and Asad Ansari. Both were charged with participating in a terrorist group, and Chand faces a further charge of counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Until the moment the jury went out, a sweeping publication ban had prevented media from reporting any details of the case other than what was said in the courtroom in this trial. That included any details of past convictions and evidence in previous Toronto 18 trials.
One of the names that came up repeatedly in past trials was that of the self-acknowledged leader of the group, Fahim Ahmad. Admad was to have been tried along with Chand and Ansari on charges of participating in a terrorist group, instructing people to carry out activities for a terrorist group and a weapons offence.
But on May 10, he made a surprise about-turn. In the middle of his trial on terrorism charges he abruptly reversed himself and pleaded guilty. What the five-woman, seven-man jury had heard about Ahmad to that point was hair-raising enough.
Untold details of plot
In hundreds of hours of taped phone intercepts and secretly recorded conversations with police mole Mubin Sheik, Ahmad spoke enthusiastically of building an arsenal of high-powered weapons, including AK-47s and M-16s, and of attacking Canadian targets such as the Pickering nuclear power plant in Ontario and storming Parliament in Ottawa to "cut off some heads."
What the jury and the Canadian public didn't hear about was the story of Ahmad's ties to international terrorism.
Before turning his attention to building a Canadian al-Qaeda style terrorist cell, Ahmad was plotting acts of terrorism with alienated young Muslim men like himself in the United States, the United Kingdom and perhaps beyond.
One of those young men was Aabid Khan, who was an al-Qaeda supporter and recruiter living in Bradford, England. According to British security analyst Sajan Gohel, Khan was no foot solider, he was a plotter who put together terrorism cells on the internet.
Khan was arrested by British anti-terrorism police at Manchester International Airport on June 6, 2006, just four days after the RCMP busted the Toronto 18.
Khan was returning from one of his frequent trips to Pakistan. On his laptop computer and on 53 harddrives found at his home, police discovered what a British prosecutor later referred to as a library of violent Jihadi videos and Islamist propaganda tracts. Amongst the videos police discovered was an edited two-minute feature shot at a Canadian winter indoctrination and military training camp organized by Ahmad and by Toronto 18 co-leader Zakaria Amara at Washego, Ont.
U.K. police also found hundreds of hours of saved chats between Khan, Ahmad and other members of the Toronto 18.
Met in a chat room
Ahmad first met Kahn in 2003 in an internet chat room called Clear Guidance. The site was frequented by angry, young Muslim men — and by 2004 Ahmad had posted over 700 messages.
Other Clear Guidance members included Yanous Tsouli. The internet moniker Tsouli chose to give himself was Irhabi 007. Irhabi is Arabic for terrorist. The reference to 007 is an allusion to the fictional, over-sexed British secret agent James Bond.
Tsouli was the son of a Moroccan diplomat living in east London. Tsouli was an internet genius with close ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq. When a London SWAT team burst into his apartment on Oct. 21, 2005, to arrest him he was building a new website called YouBombit.com. The website was a do-it-yourself guide for wannabe terrorists that featured bomb-making recipes and instructions on how to make suicide vests.
Amongst the videos Tsouli planned to put up on the website were what the FBI alleges were surveillance videos of possible targets in Washington, D.C. The videos were shot by two of Fahim Ahmad's associates from Atlanta.
Ehasnul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed were also Clear Guidance regulars. In March 2005, Sadequee and Haris Ahmed travelled to Toronto to visit Fahim Ahmad and his growing band of recruits.
Over the next week, the young men talked about potential targets and the need to get paramilitary training in Pakistan. In transcripts of internet chats introduced at his trial at Blackfriars Court in London, England, Aaabid Khan told Fahim Ahmad he could arrange to get them paramilitary training with Lashkar Tayiba, the group behind the Mumbai attacks.
Aabid Khan was also in Toronto that week. At his trial, Khan insisted he had come to marry Fahim Ahmad's sister-in-law, a 19-year-old woman named Saima Mohamed, not to plot terrorism. Saima was also committed to the Jihadist cause.
In transcripts of internet chats included in the evidence at Khan's trial, Saima Mohamed tells him of her desire to become a suicide commando. In a written letter she tells him: "The more I think about my goal in life, the more vivid my goals become. Whether it's exploding prisons or freeing Muslim prisoners … Let it be a martyrdom operation."
She tells Khan that although her sister Mariyam disapproves of her ambition to become a martyr, Fahim has given her his approval. Mohamed was never arrested. She declined several interview requests from CBC News but in a letter from her lawyer Faizel Kutty, he stated that she does not espouse violent views. He also reminded the CBC being young can be a difficult and confusing period.
Aabid Khan and Fahim Ahmad's plan was to rent basements apartments in Toronto where their most-committed internet recruits could live for a month and bond before leaving for Pakistan to get paramilitary training with Lashkar.
After training they would return to Toronto, choose targets and then disperse to stage spectacular acts of terrorism in at least four countries. But as Ahmad was out searching for cheap apartments to rent, the plan began to fall apart.
Grew impatient
Ahmad began to grow impatient with Khan, who wanted to move slowly. Ahmad also had trouble getting his hands on the $5,000 he calculated he would need to go to Pakistan. After splitting with Khan, Ahmad and his friend Zakaria Amara turned their attention to Canada and building an al-Qaeda type cell in Toronto.
In August 2008, Aabid Khan was convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In 2007, another Clear Guidance regular, Mersad Bektasavic, received a 15 year, four-month sentence from a Bosnian court for plotting an attack in Europe. When Bektasevic was arrested, police found a suicide vest and 18 kilograms of factory-made explosive in his apartment.
In June 2009, American Syed Haris Ahmed was found guilty of material support for terrorism in the U.S. and sentenced to 12 years. Later that year, his friend Ehsenul Mohamed Sadequee was found guilty on four terrorism charges and sentenced to 17 years followed by 30 years of supervision. In the indictments of both men, Fahim Ahmad is named as a co-conspirator.
Fahim Ahmad has pleaded guilty to four charges. He is facing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. As a result of his guilty plea, the jury is no longer involved in Ahmad's case. He will be sentenced in Federal Court in Brampton, Ont., by Justice Fletcher Dawson later this summer.
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/18/toronto-18-jury.html
Toronto 18 details emerge as jury sequestered
What the jury didn't get to hear about Fahim Ahmad
A jury in Brampton, Ont., has started to deliberate in the latest trial for those accused in the Toronto 18 extremist plot case.
The jurors were sequestered Friday after the judge finished instructing them in the case presented against the two accused, Steven Chand and Asad Ansari. Both were charged with participating in a terrorist group, and Chand faces a further charge of counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Until the moment the jury went out, a sweeping publication ban had prevented media from reporting any details of the case other than what was said in the courtroom in this trial. That included any details of past convictions and evidence in previous Toronto 18 trials.
One of the names that came up repeatedly in past trials was that of the self-acknowledged leader of the group, Fahim Ahmad. Admad was to have been tried along with Chand and Ansari on charges of participating in a terrorist group, instructing people to carry out activities for a terrorist group and a weapons offence.
But on May 10, he made a surprise about-turn. In the middle of his trial on terrorism charges he abruptly reversed himself and pleaded guilty. What the five-woman, seven-man jury had heard about Ahmad to that point was hair-raising enough.
Untold details of plot
In hundreds of hours of taped phone intercepts and secretly recorded conversations with police mole Mubin Sheik, Ahmad spoke enthusiastically of building an arsenal of high-powered weapons, including AK-47s and M-16s, and of attacking Canadian targets such as the Pickering nuclear power plant in Ontario and storming Parliament in Ottawa to "cut off some heads."
What the jury and the Canadian public didn't hear about was the story of Ahmad's ties to international terrorism.
Before turning his attention to building a Canadian al-Qaeda style terrorist cell, Ahmad was plotting acts of terrorism with alienated young Muslim men like himself in the United States, the United Kingdom and perhaps beyond.
One of those young men was Aabid Khan, who was an al-Qaeda supporter and recruiter living in Bradford, England. According to British security analyst Sajan Gohel, Khan was no foot solider, he was a plotter who put together terrorism cells on the internet.
Khan was arrested by British anti-terrorism police at Manchester International Airport on June 6, 2006, just four days after the RCMP busted the Toronto 18.
Khan was returning from one of his frequent trips to Pakistan. On his laptop computer and on 53 harddrives found at his home, police discovered what a British prosecutor later referred to as a library of violent Jihadi videos and Islamist propaganda tracts. Amongst the videos police discovered was an edited two-minute feature shot at a Canadian winter indoctrination and military training camp organized by Ahmad and by Toronto 18 co-leader Zakaria Amara at Washego, Ont.
U.K. police also found hundreds of hours of saved chats between Khan, Ahmad and other members of the Toronto 18.
Met in a chat room
Ahmad first met Kahn in 2003 in an internet chat room called Clear Guidance. The site was frequented by angry, young Muslim men — and by 2004 Ahmad had posted over 700 messages.
Other Clear Guidance members included Yanous Tsouli. The internet moniker Tsouli chose to give himself was Irhabi 007. Irhabi is Arabic for terrorist. The reference to 007 is an allusion to the fictional, over-sexed British secret agent James Bond.
Tsouli was the son of a Moroccan diplomat living in east London. Tsouli was an internet genius with close ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq. When a London SWAT team burst into his apartment on Oct. 21, 2005, to arrest him he was building a new website called YouBombit.com. The website was a do-it-yourself guide for wannabe terrorists that featured bomb-making recipes and instructions on how to make suicide vests.
Amongst the videos Tsouli planned to put up on the website were what the FBI alleges were surveillance videos of possible targets in Washington, D.C. The videos were shot by two of Fahim Ahmad's associates from Atlanta.
Ehasnul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed were also Clear Guidance regulars. In March 2005, Sadequee and Haris Ahmed travelled to Toronto to visit Fahim Ahmad and his growing band of recruits.
Over the next week, the young men talked about potential targets and the need to get paramilitary training in Pakistan. In transcripts of internet chats introduced at his trial at Blackfriars Court in London, England, Aaabid Khan told Fahim Ahmad he could arrange to get them paramilitary training with Lashkar Tayiba, the group behind the Mumbai attacks.
Aabid Khan was also in Toronto that week. At his trial, Khan insisted he had come to marry Fahim Ahmad's sister-in-law, a 19-year-old woman named Saima Mohamed, not to plot terrorism. Saima was also committed to the Jihadist cause.
In transcripts of internet chats included in the evidence at Khan's trial, Saima Mohamed tells him of her desire to become a suicide commando. In a written letter she tells him: "The more I think about my goal in life, the more vivid my goals become. Whether it's exploding prisons or freeing Muslim prisoners … Let it be a martyrdom operation."
She tells Khan that although her sister Mariyam disapproves of her ambition to become a martyr, Fahim has given her his approval. Mohamed was never arrested. She declined several interview requests from CBC News but in a letter from her lawyer Faizel Kutty, he stated that she does not espouse violent views. He also reminded the CBC being young can be a difficult and confusing period.
Aabid Khan and Fahim Ahmad's plan was to rent basements apartments in Toronto where their most-committed internet recruits could live for a month and bond before leaving for Pakistan to get paramilitary training with Lashkar.
After training they would return to Toronto, choose targets and then disperse to stage spectacular acts of terrorism in at least four countries. But as Ahmad was out searching for cheap apartments to rent, the plan began to fall apart.
Grew impatient
Ahmad began to grow impatient with Khan, who wanted to move slowly. Ahmad also had trouble getting his hands on the $5,000 he calculated he would need to go to Pakistan. After splitting with Khan, Ahmad and his friend Zakaria Amara turned their attention to Canada and building an al-Qaeda type cell in Toronto.
In August 2008, Aabid Khan was convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In 2007, another Clear Guidance regular, Mersad Bektasavic, received a 15 year, four-month sentence from a Bosnian court for plotting an attack in Europe. When Bektasevic was arrested, police found a suicide vest and 18 kilograms of factory-made explosive in his apartment.
In June 2009, American Syed Haris Ahmed was found guilty of material support for terrorism in the U.S. and sentenced to 12 years. Later that year, his friend Ehsenul Mohamed Sadequee was found guilty on four terrorism charges and sentenced to 17 years followed by 30 years of supervision. In the indictments of both men, Fahim Ahmad is named as a co-conspirator.
Fahim Ahmad has pleaded guilty to four charges. He is facing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. As a result of his guilty plea, the jury is no longer involved in Ahmad's case. He will be sentenced in Federal Court in Brampton, Ont., by Justice Fletcher Dawson later this summer.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
TORONTO 18 TRIAL - CROWN CLOSING ARGUMENTS
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/09/toronto-18.html
Closing arguments from the Crown were heard in a Brampton, Ont., courtroom on Wednesday for the last two men accused of plotting attacks on Parliament and other Canadian sites.
Steven Chand, 29, and Asad Ansari, 25, are both charged with knowingly participating in a terrorist group that media and authorities have dubbed the Toronto 18.
Chand is also charged with counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Speaking in Ontario Supreme Court, Crown attorney Croft Michaelson said evidence presented in court over the past few months proves a terrorist group existed and that the two men were actively involved in it.
He pointed to the accused's presence at a camp in Washago, Ont., in December 2005, which the Crown alleges was organized to recruit members to the group.
Croft alleges the men discussed what Canadian sites would be good to bomb and proposed targets like nuclear stations and Parliament.
He told the jury the men had weapons and ammunition and that one member of the group even built a detonator.
The Crown reminded the jury that to convict the men, they have to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty of the charges against them but that doesn't mean the Crown has to prove the case with absolute certainty.
During the trial, Ansari testified in his own defence, saying he was not an active participant in the group and was not aware of any plans to bomb high-profile targets in Toronto and Ottawa.
His lawyers have argued that what he had to say should be given more weight than any of the other testimony or evidence presented.
Closing arguments from the Crown were heard in a Brampton, Ont., courtroom on Wednesday for the last two men accused of plotting attacks on Parliament and other Canadian sites.
Steven Chand, 29, and Asad Ansari, 25, are both charged with knowingly participating in a terrorist group that media and authorities have dubbed the Toronto 18.
Chand is also charged with counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Speaking in Ontario Supreme Court, Crown attorney Croft Michaelson said evidence presented in court over the past few months proves a terrorist group existed and that the two men were actively involved in it.
He pointed to the accused's presence at a camp in Washago, Ont., in December 2005, which the Crown alleges was organized to recruit members to the group.
Croft alleges the men discussed what Canadian sites would be good to bomb and proposed targets like nuclear stations and Parliament.
He told the jury the men had weapons and ammunition and that one member of the group even built a detonator.
The Crown reminded the jury that to convict the men, they have to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty of the charges against them but that doesn't mean the Crown has to prove the case with absolute certainty.
During the trial, Ansari testified in his own defence, saying he was not an active participant in the group and was not aware of any plans to bomb high-profile targets in Toronto and Ottawa.
His lawyers have argued that what he had to say should be given more weight than any of the other testimony or evidence presented.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
TORONTO 18 - ACCUSED DEDICATED TO JIHAD
FROM: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=3075874
Devastated after his dreams of pursuing university-level computer science came to a crashing halt, accused terrorist Asad Ansari found a darker new purpose in life, the Crown alleged yesterday at his trial in Superior Court.
"You had become dedicated to jihad," Crown attorney Jason Wakely suggested.
"That is not true," responded Mr. Ansari, who has told the court he fell into a deep depression upon learning his parents could not afford to send him to his program of choice at the Unversity of Waterloo. But he maintains he never contemplated turning to terrorism, and was unaware his close friends were developing a homegrown terror cell during the relevant time period in 2005 and 2006.
Mr. Ansari, 25, is one of two remaining accused to be tried in the "Toronto 18" case, which involved an alleged plot to detonate bombs in the city's core and to attack senior politicians in Ottawa.
Ringleader Fahim Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges last month.
The jury yesterday watched a video from a CD labelled "Good stuff: Islamic videos," which police found in Mr. Ansari's bedroom after his arrest.
In it, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri heaps scorn on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan-- a mission Mr. Ansari has testified he supported--and urges the Muslim population to seek reform through jihad.
As this would have countered the views Mr. Ansari purported to have at the time, Mr. Wakely noted, "why is it that you saved this video?"
Mr. Ansari said he often sought out controversial material for his own edification.
"If I have that, it doesn't mean I agree with it," he said, calling al-Qaeda's standpoint "completely retarded as an ideology."
The court has heard that during a winter training camp in Washago, Ont., in 2005, Ahmad likened the Toronto 18 to al-Qaeda; Mr. Ansari, who says he was unaware the camp was intended as a terrorist training ground when he attended, denies having heard such a statement, and yesterday called it a humourous concept.
Mr. Wakely challenged Mr. Ansari on the title of the CD --- "Good stuff: Islamic videos" -- containing the al-Zawahiri video and other scenes of violent jihad, including explosions and masked militants firing rocket-propelled grenades.
"This depicts warfare, killing, hatred," Mr. Wakely said. "What's good about this stuff?"
"There's nothing good about this stuff," Mr. Ansari acknowledged, noting he frequently and indiscriminately labelled CDs in that fashion: "It was not an assessment in any way."
The Crown also referred to a document called the "Terrorist Handbook" found in Mr. Ansari's possession at the time of his arrest in June 2006. But defence lawyer John Norris contended this was merely an informational document, "not for actual use."
With the defence case for Mr. Ansari now concluded, lawyer Michael Moon will open his case today for 29-year-old Steven Chand, who stands charged with participation in a terrorist group and counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 in association with that group.
Devastated after his dreams of pursuing university-level computer science came to a crashing halt, accused terrorist Asad Ansari found a darker new purpose in life, the Crown alleged yesterday at his trial in Superior Court.
"You had become dedicated to jihad," Crown attorney Jason Wakely suggested.
"That is not true," responded Mr. Ansari, who has told the court he fell into a deep depression upon learning his parents could not afford to send him to his program of choice at the Unversity of Waterloo. But he maintains he never contemplated turning to terrorism, and was unaware his close friends were developing a homegrown terror cell during the relevant time period in 2005 and 2006.
Mr. Ansari, 25, is one of two remaining accused to be tried in the "Toronto 18" case, which involved an alleged plot to detonate bombs in the city's core and to attack senior politicians in Ottawa.
Ringleader Fahim Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges last month.
The jury yesterday watched a video from a CD labelled "Good stuff: Islamic videos," which police found in Mr. Ansari's bedroom after his arrest.
In it, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri heaps scorn on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan-- a mission Mr. Ansari has testified he supported--and urges the Muslim population to seek reform through jihad.
As this would have countered the views Mr. Ansari purported to have at the time, Mr. Wakely noted, "why is it that you saved this video?"
Mr. Ansari said he often sought out controversial material for his own edification.
"If I have that, it doesn't mean I agree with it," he said, calling al-Qaeda's standpoint "completely retarded as an ideology."
The court has heard that during a winter training camp in Washago, Ont., in 2005, Ahmad likened the Toronto 18 to al-Qaeda; Mr. Ansari, who says he was unaware the camp was intended as a terrorist training ground when he attended, denies having heard such a statement, and yesterday called it a humourous concept.
Mr. Wakely challenged Mr. Ansari on the title of the CD --- "Good stuff: Islamic videos" -- containing the al-Zawahiri video and other scenes of violent jihad, including explosions and masked militants firing rocket-propelled grenades.
"This depicts warfare, killing, hatred," Mr. Wakely said. "What's good about this stuff?"
"There's nothing good about this stuff," Mr. Ansari acknowledged, noting he frequently and indiscriminately labelled CDs in that fashion: "It was not an assessment in any way."
The Crown also referred to a document called the "Terrorist Handbook" found in Mr. Ansari's possession at the time of his arrest in June 2006. But defence lawyer John Norris contended this was merely an informational document, "not for actual use."
With the defence case for Mr. Ansari now concluded, lawyer Michael Moon will open his case today for 29-year-old Steven Chand, who stands charged with participation in a terrorist group and counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 in association with that group.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
TORONTO 18 SCARED OF WEAPONS
FROM: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=3070749
The Crown launched a multi-pronged assault yesterday on the credibility of Asad Ansari, one of the final two accused in the "Toronto 18" terrorism case.
Mr. Ansari, who has denied any role in the 2006 bomb plot and professed to be "scared of weapons," could not explain why police found a cache of files on a CD in his bedroom containing images of violent jihad.
"I can't answer the why," Mr. Ansari said during his cross-examination. "I can only say that I have these images."
The files include photographs of Osama bin Laden and masked militants hoisting AK-47s. In a number of shots, bearded men pose with rocket launchers; others feature a variety of guns and swords.
Mr. Ansari agreed the images glorified the concept of armed mujahideen, but said his aversion to firearms only applied "in real life."
Mr. Ansari, 25, is on trial for participating in a terrorist group that allegedly operated between 2005 and 2006. He admits to attending a winter camping trip organized by "Toronto 18" ringleader Fahim Ahmad, but denies he had any knowledge at the time that the camp was intended as a terrorist training ground.
Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges this month.
In general, Crown attorney Jason Wakely contended, "[Ahmad] was very open about his plans to attack."
"I guess, sure," Mr. Ansari replied. Yet he maintained Ahmad concealed those plans from him specifically, with discussions on topics such as jihad occurring only in the "theoretical" realm.
The jury has seen a video of the winter camp in Washago, Ont., filmed by Zakaria Amara, who was also charged in the terror plot. In the footage, masked men are seen running through the forest, hoisting a black flag and shooting guns, with Arabic chanting overlaid as a sound-track. Mr. Ansari says he was not present during the filming of any of the violent scenes. "Everything seemed benign and innocuous," he said of the camp.
Mr. Ansari has testified that Amara brought him the camp footage after the event had ended and asked for assistance in converting it to a digital format. This was incriminating evidence, Mr. Wakely pointed out, and "Amara trusted you with that."
"That's correct," the accused testified. Yet he says he never watched any of the footage while he was converting it, simply setting up the conversion process and then leaving the room to do other tasks. The Crown suggested this was false.
"The natural thing to do is to watch it," Mr. Wakely said, noting Mr. Ansari, who was out of school and not working, had little else to focus on at the time.
"I did not [watch]," Mr. Ansari asserted. While he agreed in retrospect it would have
made sense to view the camp video, "it was only happenstance" that he failed to do so.
The Crown also pointed to an intercepted telephone call in which Mr. Ansari speaks to Ahmad about malicious software found on Ahmad's computer.
"You were deliberately cryptic and guarded in this conversation," Mr. Wakely said, alleging Mr. Ansari was aware all the while that Ahmad was the subject of police surveillance, including a wiretap.
"No I did not," Mr. Ansari said. He says he was non-specific in discussing the malicious software because Ahmad "is an idiot when it comes to computers."
At one point in the conversation, Mr. Ansari alerts Ahmad to a program that is sending information out of his computer. "I can guess [where]," Ahmad says. Mr. Ansari, however, fails to follow up with the "obvious question" of where, Mr. Wakely noted.
Mr. Ansari, a self-described computer whiz, said he was not particularly interested in the "amateurish" program, adding it never occurred to him that it was installed by a law-enforcement agency.
The trial resumes today.
The Crown launched a multi-pronged assault yesterday on the credibility of Asad Ansari, one of the final two accused in the "Toronto 18" terrorism case.
Mr. Ansari, who has denied any role in the 2006 bomb plot and professed to be "scared of weapons," could not explain why police found a cache of files on a CD in his bedroom containing images of violent jihad.
"I can't answer the why," Mr. Ansari said during his cross-examination. "I can only say that I have these images."
The files include photographs of Osama bin Laden and masked militants hoisting AK-47s. In a number of shots, bearded men pose with rocket launchers; others feature a variety of guns and swords.
Mr. Ansari agreed the images glorified the concept of armed mujahideen, but said his aversion to firearms only applied "in real life."
Mr. Ansari, 25, is on trial for participating in a terrorist group that allegedly operated between 2005 and 2006. He admits to attending a winter camping trip organized by "Toronto 18" ringleader Fahim Ahmad, but denies he had any knowledge at the time that the camp was intended as a terrorist training ground.
Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges this month.
In general, Crown attorney Jason Wakely contended, "[Ahmad] was very open about his plans to attack."
"I guess, sure," Mr. Ansari replied. Yet he maintained Ahmad concealed those plans from him specifically, with discussions on topics such as jihad occurring only in the "theoretical" realm.
The jury has seen a video of the winter camp in Washago, Ont., filmed by Zakaria Amara, who was also charged in the terror plot. In the footage, masked men are seen running through the forest, hoisting a black flag and shooting guns, with Arabic chanting overlaid as a sound-track. Mr. Ansari says he was not present during the filming of any of the violent scenes. "Everything seemed benign and innocuous," he said of the camp.
Mr. Ansari has testified that Amara brought him the camp footage after the event had ended and asked for assistance in converting it to a digital format. This was incriminating evidence, Mr. Wakely pointed out, and "Amara trusted you with that."
"That's correct," the accused testified. Yet he says he never watched any of the footage while he was converting it, simply setting up the conversion process and then leaving the room to do other tasks. The Crown suggested this was false.
"The natural thing to do is to watch it," Mr. Wakely said, noting Mr. Ansari, who was out of school and not working, had little else to focus on at the time.
"I did not [watch]," Mr. Ansari asserted. While he agreed in retrospect it would have
made sense to view the camp video, "it was only happenstance" that he failed to do so.
The Crown also pointed to an intercepted telephone call in which Mr. Ansari speaks to Ahmad about malicious software found on Ahmad's computer.
"You were deliberately cryptic and guarded in this conversation," Mr. Wakely said, alleging Mr. Ansari was aware all the while that Ahmad was the subject of police surveillance, including a wiretap.
"No I did not," Mr. Ansari said. He says he was non-specific in discussing the malicious software because Ahmad "is an idiot when it comes to computers."
At one point in the conversation, Mr. Ansari alerts Ahmad to a program that is sending information out of his computer. "I can guess [where]," Ahmad says. Mr. Ansari, however, fails to follow up with the "obvious question" of where, Mr. Wakely noted.
Mr. Ansari, a self-described computer whiz, said he was not particularly interested in the "amateurish" program, adding it never occurred to him that it was installed by a law-enforcement agency.
The trial resumes today.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
FLAG DID NOT TIP OFF TORONTO 18 ACCUSED
FROM: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Flag+didn+Toronto+suspect+terrorist+training+camp/3047691/story.html
Shortly after arriving at a winter campsite in Washago, Ont., more than four years ago, Asad Ansari saw a black flag overlaid with white Arabic script.
Under cross-examination by Crown attorney Jason Wakely Wednesday, Ansari, who stands accused of participating in a terrorist group, admitted he knew similar flags were frequently used as symbols of violent jihad — but says he never made the connection while at the camp.
"That thought didn't cross my mind at the time," Ansari said, noting he believed the flag to be a holy Islamic symbol.
He admitted he had seen similar flags "in the news . . . mainly (in) stories about terrorism."
Asked whether he was aware of this connection in late 2005, when he attended the camp, Ansari said he was, adding the symbol had been "co-opted by violent jihadists."
Ansari contends he never knew the Washago camp was intended as a terrorist training ground for the "Toronto 18," a group of alleged terror plotters who were rounded up in a police sting in the spring of 2006.
Rather, he has told the court, he believed he was simply attending a winter camping trip with friends.
When he saw the flag, Ansari testified: "(I did not say) whoa, I'm at a terrorist training camp."
Earlier Wednesday, the jury heard a series of intercepted phone calls between Ansari and Toronto 18 ringleader Fahim Ahmad, who pleaded guilty to terrorism charges last week.
The Crown alleges the homegrown terror cell recruited Ansari for his technical savvy, but the defence maintains he knew nothing of the plot to attack targets in Toronto and Ottawa when he agreed to work on Ahmad's computer in early 2006.
Star Crown witness Mubin Shaikh has testified that Ansari told him he intentionally deleted a video of the Washago camp — in which participants can be seen shooting guns and wrestling, with Arabic chanting overlaid as a soundtrack — from Ahmad's computer, in addition to deleting MSN chat logs.
Defence lawyer John Norris asked his client whether he had ever spoken to Shaikh about the nature of his work on Ahmad's computer.
"I did not," Ansari replied.
The defence contends Ansari was repairing Ahmad's computer, which had become infected with malicious software, as a favour to his friend.
In one of the intercepted phone calls, Ansari and Ahmad discuss a file called "firefight" on Ahmad's computer. The file contained text about "urban guerrilla warfare," Ansari told the court.
"Where did you get it from?" Ansari asks Ahmad during the call.
"Uh, you know," Ahmad responds, later adding it is from "their own site."
Ansari told the jury he did not know what Ahmad meant by that.
Ansari, 25, and Steven Chand, 29, are the remaining two to be tried in the Toronto 18 case. It is the first time terrorism charges will be tested by a Canadian jury.
Shortly after arriving at a winter campsite in Washago, Ont., more than four years ago, Asad Ansari saw a black flag overlaid with white Arabic script.
Under cross-examination by Crown attorney Jason Wakely Wednesday, Ansari, who stands accused of participating in a terrorist group, admitted he knew similar flags were frequently used as symbols of violent jihad — but says he never made the connection while at the camp.
"That thought didn't cross my mind at the time," Ansari said, noting he believed the flag to be a holy Islamic symbol.
He admitted he had seen similar flags "in the news . . . mainly (in) stories about terrorism."
Asked whether he was aware of this connection in late 2005, when he attended the camp, Ansari said he was, adding the symbol had been "co-opted by violent jihadists."
Ansari contends he never knew the Washago camp was intended as a terrorist training ground for the "Toronto 18," a group of alleged terror plotters who were rounded up in a police sting in the spring of 2006.
Rather, he has told the court, he believed he was simply attending a winter camping trip with friends.
When he saw the flag, Ansari testified: "(I did not say) whoa, I'm at a terrorist training camp."
Earlier Wednesday, the jury heard a series of intercepted phone calls between Ansari and Toronto 18 ringleader Fahim Ahmad, who pleaded guilty to terrorism charges last week.
The Crown alleges the homegrown terror cell recruited Ansari for his technical savvy, but the defence maintains he knew nothing of the plot to attack targets in Toronto and Ottawa when he agreed to work on Ahmad's computer in early 2006.
Star Crown witness Mubin Shaikh has testified that Ansari told him he intentionally deleted a video of the Washago camp — in which participants can be seen shooting guns and wrestling, with Arabic chanting overlaid as a soundtrack — from Ahmad's computer, in addition to deleting MSN chat logs.
Defence lawyer John Norris asked his client whether he had ever spoken to Shaikh about the nature of his work on Ahmad's computer.
"I did not," Ansari replied.
The defence contends Ansari was repairing Ahmad's computer, which had become infected with malicious software, as a favour to his friend.
In one of the intercepted phone calls, Ansari and Ahmad discuss a file called "firefight" on Ahmad's computer. The file contained text about "urban guerrilla warfare," Ansari told the court.
"Where did you get it from?" Ansari asks Ahmad during the call.
"Uh, you know," Ahmad responds, later adding it is from "their own site."
Ansari told the jury he did not know what Ahmad meant by that.
Ansari, 25, and Steven Chand, 29, are the remaining two to be tried in the Toronto 18 case. It is the first time terrorism charges will be tested by a Canadian jury.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
ASAD ANSARI DID NOT KNOW ABOUT TORONTO 18 PLOT SAYS DEFENCE
*** Like I said, 'no comment'. Yet. MS ***
FROM: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/05/18/asad-ansari-did-not-know-about-toronto-18s-alleged-plot-defence/
One of the remaining two accused in the “Toronto 18″ terrorism prosecution was in the dark about the alleged plot when he he took part in a winter training camp, a Superior Court jury heard today.
Ringleader Fahim Ahmad, who pleaded guilty last week, shared his terrorist ambitions with a select group, defence lawyer John Norris said, but Asad Ansari “was not among the trusted few.”
When he took part in the training camp in Washago, Ont., in December 2005, Mr. Ansari understood it simply to be a winter camping trip, the court heard. The group practiced paintball and shot guns; at one point, Ahmad delivered his now infamous “fall of Rome” speech, in which he called for the defeat of western society.
Mr. Norris, however, contends his client was not present for that speech.
“At no time was he aware of Mr. Ahmad’s terrorist plans or activities,” Mr. Norris told the jury.
Mr. Ansari, 25, and Steven Chand, 29, are the remaining two to be tried in the Toronto 18 case, and the first to be tried before a jury. The defence case continues this afternoon
FROM: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/05/18/asad-ansari-did-not-know-about-toronto-18s-alleged-plot-defence/
One of the remaining two accused in the “Toronto 18″ terrorism prosecution was in the dark about the alleged plot when he he took part in a winter training camp, a Superior Court jury heard today.
Ringleader Fahim Ahmad, who pleaded guilty last week, shared his terrorist ambitions with a select group, defence lawyer John Norris said, but Asad Ansari “was not among the trusted few.”
When he took part in the training camp in Washago, Ont., in December 2005, Mr. Ansari understood it simply to be a winter camping trip, the court heard. The group practiced paintball and shot guns; at one point, Ahmad delivered his now infamous “fall of Rome” speech, in which he called for the defeat of western society.
Mr. Norris, however, contends his client was not present for that speech.
“At no time was he aware of Mr. Ahmad’s terrorist plans or activities,” Mr. Norris told the jury.
Mr. Ansari, 25, and Steven Chand, 29, are the remaining two to be tried in the Toronto 18 case, and the first to be tried before a jury. The defence case continues this afternoon
ASAD ANSARI TESTIFIES IN HIS OWN DEFENCE - TORONTO 18 TRIAL
*** Does anybody honestly think people don't read the news? There are 12 such people deciding this case right now - in addition to the trial by media that has already been long underway. Only the one who was there can truly say what happened as a matter of fact under law.
That and, 'no comment'. :) MS ***
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/05/18/toornto-18.html#ixzz0oK5Kvh9U
A man charged with aiding the so-called Toronto 18 terrorist cell has told an Ontario court that when he was invited on a winter camping trip by one of the group's leaders, he was unaware he was actually being asked to attend a training camp.
Asad Ansari, 25, is one of the last accused to be tried in the Toronto 18 case. Ansari testified in his own defence in a Brampton, Ont., court Tuesday morning.
He admitted attending the camp for a few days in December 2005 at Washago, Ont. But he said he went only because he was invited by his longtime friend Zakaria Amara.
Amara, one of two confessed leaders of the group, has already pleaded guilty to plotting to set off three one-tonne fertilizer bombs in downtown Toronto and at an unnamed military base to protest Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan.
Amara was given a life sentence.
In court, Ansari described himself at the time of al-Qaeda's Sept. 11 attacks against the United States as a typical young Muslim man, suddenly having to look for answers.
On the one hand, Ansari testified, he saw himself as a Canadian who believed in democracy and also believed that the Muslim world could learn a lot from the West.
On the other hand, he said, after Sept. 11 there was a palpable feeling among Muslims the world over that Western societies viewed all Muslims with suspicion. He said he and other young men like him suddenly began to question where they fit into the world.
At one point, after his banker fathered revealed he could not afford to send Ansari to university because he had lost a lot of the family's money in bad investments, Ansari testified that he seriously considered suicide.
In draft suicide notes to his mother, father and younger sister, he made references to "dying for the sake of Allah."
One of the options he considered but quickly discarded was volunteering to fight with the Islamist insurgency in Iraq, he told the court.
Ansari also testified he considered non-political options such as drowning or hanging himself.
Even after leaving thoughts of suicide behind, Ansari said, with his dream of earning a degree in computer science at Waterloo University shattered, he went into a long depression and felt like "a loser."
Ansari and Steven Chand are the last two of the Toronto 18 to be on trial.
Seventeen people alleged to have been members of the group were arrested on June 2, 2006. The 18th arrest followed three weeks later.
That and, 'no comment'. :) MS ***
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/05/18/toornto-18.html#ixzz0oK5Kvh9U
A man charged with aiding the so-called Toronto 18 terrorist cell has told an Ontario court that when he was invited on a winter camping trip by one of the group's leaders, he was unaware he was actually being asked to attend a training camp.
Asad Ansari, 25, is one of the last accused to be tried in the Toronto 18 case. Ansari testified in his own defence in a Brampton, Ont., court Tuesday morning.
He admitted attending the camp for a few days in December 2005 at Washago, Ont. But he said he went only because he was invited by his longtime friend Zakaria Amara.
Amara, one of two confessed leaders of the group, has already pleaded guilty to plotting to set off three one-tonne fertilizer bombs in downtown Toronto and at an unnamed military base to protest Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan.
Amara was given a life sentence.
In court, Ansari described himself at the time of al-Qaeda's Sept. 11 attacks against the United States as a typical young Muslim man, suddenly having to look for answers.
On the one hand, Ansari testified, he saw himself as a Canadian who believed in democracy and also believed that the Muslim world could learn a lot from the West.
On the other hand, he said, after Sept. 11 there was a palpable feeling among Muslims the world over that Western societies viewed all Muslims with suspicion. He said he and other young men like him suddenly began to question where they fit into the world.
At one point, after his banker fathered revealed he could not afford to send Ansari to university because he had lost a lot of the family's money in bad investments, Ansari testified that he seriously considered suicide.
In draft suicide notes to his mother, father and younger sister, he made references to "dying for the sake of Allah."
One of the options he considered but quickly discarded was volunteering to fight with the Islamist insurgency in Iraq, he told the court.
Ansari also testified he considered non-political options such as drowning or hanging himself.
Even after leaving thoughts of suicide behind, Ansari said, with his dream of earning a degree in computer science at Waterloo University shattered, he went into a long depression and felt like "a loser."
Ansari and Steven Chand are the last two of the Toronto 18 to be on trial.
Seventeen people alleged to have been members of the group were arrested on June 2, 2006. The 18th arrest followed three weeks later.
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