generalspeaking

Islamist Terrorism vs Islamic Piety

"Canada is not immune to terrorist threats."
"Through an integrated law enforcement approach, the RCMP and its partners are in a better position to prevent, detect, deny and respond to threats to Canada's national security."
RCMP Superintendent Stacey Talbot, Alberta division 

"It's important that law enforcement send a message that there is no immunity for Canadians who go abroad to commit acts of terrorism, to victimize the innocent and, in some cases, to also attack Canadian military personnel."
"I hope there are other ongoing investigations because we do know that there were dozens of so-called Canadian foreign fighters who went abroad to join ISIS and similar deeply hateful terrorist organizations."
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney

"Collecting information in Syria that could hold up in a Canadian court of law is very difficult. To find evidence that he joined a listed terrorism agency from that period would have been enormously difficult for the RCMP to prove in court. So I think that's probably why it took so long."
"This added charge that they threw in there today about kidnapping likely suggests some new information that they received from another source, maybe from another country, that they now feel confident enough to use in court and charge him with those previous offences."

"It is indicative that they're playing the long game, that even after five, six years they're willing to bring charges against an individual who by all accounts that I've spoken to in Calgary, has basically moved on with his life, is not currently radicalized, is kind of just living his life with his family, just going to work and so on."
"To now charge him five years later shows that the RCMP is very much committed to following these cases through to the end ... If they can find the right kind of evidence, we might see more charges for other people as well."
Amarnath Amarasingam, assistant professor, School of Religion, Queen's University

Terrorism related charges have been laid against a Calgary man in the wake of an extensive, complex investigation that consumed the course of seven years, to charge Hussein Sobhe Borhot, 34, with participation in activity of a terrorism group and commission of an offence for a terrorist group. The accused, according to the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, travelled to Syria to join Islamic State militants, between May 2013 and June 2014.

There, he was trained to enhance the ability of ISIS while knowingly committing the offence of kidnapping, while working alongside the terrorist group. Ordered to be held in custody, he is scheduled to return to court in Calgary in several days' time. The investigation into this man's actions is not complete; further charges and arrests in the investigation are a possibility.

A man in Southern Ontario once stood trial in Turkey, charged with having alleged links to the Islamic State group, last December. Ikar Mao of Guelph was charged with one count each of participation in the activities of a terrorist group, and of leaving Canada to take part in terrorist group activity. An estimated 190 people with connections to Canada are suspected of terrorist activity abroad-- some 60 of whom had returned to Canada, according to an annual federal report on extremism.

“What happened to those guys? Why only the RCMP is finding one person after seven years? [It is] a very slow [and] tiring [process]."
"These people are walking time bombs."
"We cannot let them freely walk on Canadian soil because they have been trained for utilization of weapons. They might have committed major crimes in Syria and Iraq."
"[The revelation of Wednesday’s charges would] backfire on the Muslim community [and give those who hold Islamophobic and other racist views] an opportunity to spew out hate."
“It’s going to revive the backlash against the Muslim community, the badmouthing about our religion and all those things."
Calgary Imam Syed Soharwardy, founder, Muslims Against Terrorism, Islamic Supreme Council of Canada