On Compassionate Grounds

"He was in the thick of things.  The accused has an essentially violent view of jihad.  Moreover, the accused displayed enthusiasm in the conspiracy to carry out a terrorist bombing.  He even helped find explosives...  He was determined to act." 

In 2009 Said Namouh who immigrated to Canada in 2003 from Morocco, sponsored by his then-wife, was convicted in a Quebec court on four counts under the Anti-Terrorism Act, including participation in a terrorist group, extortion of a foreign government and plotting a bomb attack with a co-conspirator located in Europe.  All of which was most unfair.

Because he denies all of this.  He did nothing, nothing wrong, nothing at all.  Yes, he used the Internet, who doesn't?  He was curious about Iran and Iraq, that was all.  Wasn't everyone entitled to assuage their curiosity by learning about places and things in the news?  Someone has it in for him, and he knows who it would be.

Its a personal character assassination, a conspiracy between the RCMP and the Conservative government.  This was a deliberate character smear, an intolerable miscarriage of justice.  And all in the name of protecting Israel.  Canadian security authorities concocted a story meant to make him look guilty of crimes he did not commit.

There is, mind, an intercept of some Internet chats in which Mr. Namouh features:  "Terrorism is in our blood, and with it we will drown the unjust", he declared in one instance.  In another he revealed his dream: to die a martyr and have his son become a mujahedeen, a soldier of God in the glorious battle of violent jihad in honour of Islam.

He was involved in the global Islamic Media Front, allied with al-Qaeda, with a mission to incite and facilitate terrorism.  He involved himself in producing and distributing recruitment and training videos that had fascinating names like Jihad academy video, Anti-personnel mine video, and Explosive belt video.

There is a deportation order issued against him.  He is not a Canadian citizen.  The Immigration and Refugee Board considered a request for asylum that he lodged, to remain in Canada once his prison sentence is completed.  "He alleged that he had never talked to anyone about killing people", the IRB wrote in its March decision. 

IRB member Marie-Claude Paquette considered Namouh a "violent person"; "the risk of reoffending is still high today", and "there is currently no indication that rehabilitation is possible", she wrote.  She dismissed his bid to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, and wrote that he should be returned to Morocco.

He becomes eligible for parole in 2017.  And he has appealed the decision of the IRB to the Federal Court of Appeal.  Stay tuned.  Or just tune out.