Anatomy of an al-Qaeda Convert Rejecting ISIL

"When it came to the targets the thinking was that one of them was economic and one of them was security and the other one was military."

"I was aware that people were going to be hurt but it seemed at the time that I was so focused on the symbolism of the act. Because I'm not a violent person it is easier to think of a bomb where you don't see the victims versus a close-up attack where you do physically have an intimate or a close contact with the victims."

"At some point I contemplated, unfortunately adding shrapnel to increase the casualty rate. So that's disgusting."

"The plan to construct three truck bombs was a little bit too complicated. Near the end, the technical issues became too much."

"Every time there was an obstacle, I kept doubling down and I kept going forward. I did have the intent. I would have tried something."

"I look at prison as a blessing and, in a way, I see the life sentence as a blessing too, because going to prison was the best of all possible outcomes, given how radicalized I was at the time and how determined I was to go through with it."

"Prison was very good for me because it was the only way I could be saved."

Zakaria Amara, 35, one of 18 arrested June 2, 2006 in a homegrown terrorist ring, Toronto

Zakaria Amara, one of the "Toronto 18" who were arrested in a shocking anti-terrorism probe in 2006. Photo by Reuters/File

Just as well that Zakaria Amara is so grateful that arrest, trial and sentencing took him to prison, avoiding martyrdom and Paradise. He and  his fellow conspirators were apprehended, with the help of an 'inside' informer who benefited handsomely for his undercover work, revealing a plot to wreak havoc in Canada in revenge for the Canadian military dispatched as part of NATO in a U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan to root out Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda operation, sheltered by the Taliban.

Zakaria Amara and his Islamist colleagues, the infamous 'Toronto 18' -- whose plans included blowing up truck bombs, storming Parliament to behead the prime minister, blowing up the CBC, and Canada's premier intelligence-gathering service CSIS, among other targets -- were quite ambitious in their conspiratorial organization to teach Canada and Canadians that Islamism is not to be trifled with. The greater the number of victims, particularly those in high places, the more resonant their message.

 

In gratitude for the unexpected attention on the part of Canadian Muslims living the good life in Canada, Canadian justice handed Amara a life sentence for his thwarted ambitions. As the leader of the terrorist plot, he has decided, it would seem, that his happiness at being incarcerated is now dwindling and he would at this juncture, prefer being released from prison after having served 15 years of his life-in-prison sentence. After all, he points out, he is remorseful.

While al-Qaeda's agenda was appealing to him and his cohorts, including the spectacular victory over the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon, striking terror into the hearts of Americans, he explained to a hearing of the Parole Board of Canada that ensuing news of the atrocities committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant gave  him pause for second thought. Did he really want to be aligned with these lunatic psychopaths? Re-evaluating his direction to reject his radical beliefs, he felt himself prepared for release from prison.

His verbal passion in appealing to the Board for due consideration and trust in his newfound sincerity rejecting violent Islamism had him in tears, thanking his supporters in the Muslim community; his family, his daughter, nine months old at the time her father was arrested. For three hours he addressed the Board, acquainting them with his transformation from jihadist to thoughtful and sober mature man intent on occupying a place in Canadian society he had so impetuously forsaken as a young and impressionable fervent Islamist.

"In my heart", he explained, he had praised Osama bin Laden, a loyalty he maintained while in prison. From prison he maintained contact with members of the notorious Canadian-Egyptian Khadr family whose paterfamilias had been a financial supporter of bin Laden and close friend in their mutual campaign against the West. The Parole Board hearing took place at the medium security Warkworth Institution in Ontario, where he spoke of being overwhelmed by his ambition to succeed in the terrorist plot he headed up.

He spoke of his determination to forge ahead with the many-pronged attack on Canadian institutions and government figures. Had the plot not been revealed to police, had he not been arrested, he would have persisted until reaching a successful conclusion. Convicted in 2010, he was designated to the Special Handling Unit in Canada's highest security prison in Quebec. There he mingled with other Islamist extremists, and there his sentiments and values grew in strength, flourishing in a setting that set him on a course to eventually seek completion of his Islamist mission.

And then came Islamic State, his attention fixated on the group's relentless gathering of territory in Syria and Iraq to form their Caliphate, addressing the world with sophisticated public relations material of gruesomely violent exploits in capturing journalists and other Western figures to suffer horrendous torture and death for the camera. The barbarous celebration of atrocities committed by psychopathic Islamist murderers became a recruiting tool bringing in enthusiastic ISIL volunteers for jihad from the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

He, on the other hand, was so revulsed by ISIL in contrast to his championing of al-Qaeda, that his Islamist faith faltered. "A lot of things have changed", he assured the hearing. The actions of ISIL had him re-evaluating his ideology. ISIL "came on the scene and were doing all kinds of horrific things", that he "couldn't stomach". Obviously, he said, there was something wrong with his world view and since, he has been "building a new house" for himself. Cut ties with radicals with whom he no longer has anything in common ideologically.

Given parole, he would stay at a halfway house in downtown Toronto. Granted parole, he would undergo a deradicalization program, complete post-secondary education. He wanted to become a professional social worker. Just as it seems that all Muslim extremists aspire to be engineers, those who reform themselves from jihadist sentiments appear to aspire to become social workers. As though to expunge from their subconscious any possible further twinges urging toward jihad by turning themselves toward public good, in support of the social weal.

On his own initiative, good soul that he is, he self-started his rehabilitation with sporadic and informal conversations with imams, conversations with institutional parole officers, while reading extensively and speaking with 'reputable members of the community'. All, all to no avail. Wasted, his effort in writing a 102 page-letter to the Board, setting out his thoughts and experiences and aspirations for the future, as a completely reformed good Canadian citizen. 

For despite his earnest demeanor and pleading stance, his conscientious relaying of the truth, his sincere pledge to become a responsible member of society, his admirable ambition to join the cadre of social workers who aid those in society whom ill fortune has struck, the Parole Board denied him the parole he sought, following deliberation of an hour's duration. One Parole Board member complained that the board was unable to adequately assess the progress Amara had made while imprisoned, given a lack of objective programming.

In the end, the consensus was that those at the hearing felt the risk to public safety remained, a risk that was unmanageable without reliable, adequate further intervention to steer this self-reformed former terrorist beyond his first choice, of punishing Canada for its role in ousting bin Laden from Afghanistan, and for its part in the Western-based coalition to lead Afghanistan toward peace and security, helping to fend off the constant Taliban resurgences. 

 

All now to no avail, as the Taliban is set to resume its former violently brutal Islamist command of Afghanistan. A metaphor for rescuing Amara from his passionate love affair with jihad.

A courtroom evidence photo from the Toronto 18 case, released on Oct. 20, 2009, shows electronic equipment. The group was accused of a plot to create explosions at various Canadian sites. (Canadian Press)