"I Didn't Think for a Second He Was Joking"

"Before I go, I want you to remember my name and remember my face, because the next time you see it, I'll be on the news." 

"I know when I'm going to die because I'm going to plant a bomb in every synagogue in Toronto and blow them up to kill as many Jews as possible."

Waisuddin Akbari, 41 

 

"It is important to be clear about what Mr. Akbari is -- and is not -- being sentenced for. He is not being sentenced for taking any material steps to act on the threats he made. There is no evidence before me of the collection of weapons, explosives, maps, planning or coordination."

"Indeed, following his arrest, police conducted extensive checks and searches on Mr. Akbari to ensure the safety of the community was not still at risk. Mr. Akbari's guilt is based on empty threats he communicated to a stranger, mistakenly assuming [he] would be sympathetic to Akbar's own warped and hateful world view. There was no effort to publicize his threats beyond the conversation."

"That is not to say that the threats were harmless. Mr. Akbari's threats were clearly motivated by bias, prejudice and hate toward Israelis and Jews. ... Hate-based threats are not just words, they are the gasoline upon which even more serious offences burn. Where hate is normalized, harm follows."

"It is impossible to overstate the sense of fear, anger, and frustration Mr. Akbari's words have instilled in the broader Jewish community."

Justice Edward Prutschi, Ontario Court of Justice, Newmarket 

The Newmarket courthouse is shown in a file photo. File photo/Village Media

 

"At a time of rampant antisemitism in Canada and elsewhere, it sends an alarming message that threats to slaughter Jews and bomb synagogues may be met with leniency."

"That is extremely disappointing and profoundly unsettling for our community."

Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies 

Justice Prutschi, while recognizing that physical harm follows voiced threats against Jews, and while commiserating with the 'sense of fear, anger and frustration' that Jews in Canada experience when threats of the nature spouted by this man take place, yet found it reasonable to dismiss the event to the extent of sentencing the malefactor to house arrest. The judge was well aware of the invasive and viral threats emanating from groups of Palestinian-Hamas supporters across Canada, condemning Israel for its purported 'genocide' in Gaza, and threatening to 'globalize the intifada' while chanting 'final solution'.

 

Yet he felt a reasonable response to this man's sinister threats "to kill as many Jews as possible", merited no more than a veritable gentle chiding of a 60-day period of restraining the man to his home and three years of probation. This is viewed by Justice Prutschi as appropriate penalty for advocating for actual genocide. A decision that entirely lacks acknowledgement of the nature of the offence, much less the potential of the man following through on his sinister threat. In contrast to the manner in which 'justice' was seen to be done in that Newmarket courtroom, a similar case in the U.S. was handled quite differently.

 

On July 23, the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York issued this notice: 

"Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, Domagoj Patkovic was sentenced by United States District Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. to 60 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to make threats and conveying false information about explosives.  The defendant made hoax bomb threat phone calls to historically Jewish hospitals and care centers in New York City and on Long Island. "

"Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentencing."

“The defendant endangered patients and diverted precious law enforcement resources to advance his hateful agenda against people of the Jewish faith.  His actions fed a rising tide of antisemitism in America,” stated United States Attorney Nocella.  “Our Office will continue to prosecute dangerous bomb threats and swatting schemes to the fullest extent of the law, especially those motivated by hate, and those targeting vulnerable communities in hospitals and care centers.”

 

The defendant in the U.S. case made threats similar to those expressed by the defendant in Canada. In the case in New York, the legal authorities felt it appropriate to ensure that consequence under the law recognizing the seriousness of the man's actions and to deter others from performing similar actions, be given a sentence commensurate with the crime: 60 months' incarceration. In the Canadian case, the justice who handed down the sentence felt that a similar crime merited a 60-day home detention. As Jaime Kirzner-Roberts with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center pointed out, the 'light sentence' indicates an urgent need to reform Canada's hate crime laws.

 

After hearing community impact statements from five Jewish community groups outlining the depth of fear and despair experienced by Jews with the spread of the news of the threats, and Justice Prutschi's own expressed empathy for the plight of Jews facing an ongoing flood of  unrestrained antisemitism combined with threats, that easy-going sentence of home detention was still considered fitting as a consequence of an unbridled hate crime and threat of death to the Jewish community.

 

Born in Afghanistan, taken to Pakistan at age six before moving to Moscow, Russia eight years later, Akbari moved to Canada in 2007. He became a Canadian citizen, opened a shawarma restaurant, married and had children. At the trial he denied any statements of bombing synagogues or killing Jews. The judge noted at trial the "false, despicable and odious" commentary expressed by Akbari, who also said he had no idea of what Judaism meant or what a synagogue was before he was arrested.

 

In March of 2024, Akbar was at a BMW dealership, waiting for an oil change. In speaking with a salesman there, he commented he would not lease or finance a new car since it was his belief that Israel and Jews controlled world events and took benefit from interest payments on all car loans He believed, he said to the BMW dealership salesman, that Israel was plotting to exterminate anyone who was not Jewish, and they all deserve deadly punishment which he was prepared to administer. 

 

The salesman in disbelief, challenged Akbari's statements asking if he was serious, leading Akbari to respond: "Yes, I'm serious. I'll make sure those attacks are filmed and posted online so the world can see what I've done."As it happened Akbari and the car salesman are both Muslims, both having grown up in Pakistan; their shared background left Akbari with the impression that what he said would be approved by the other. The salesman, however, described his impression as fearful, leading him to call police and report the conversation.

 

Waissudin Akbari

 

Subsequently, a police investigation led to Akbari being charged with threatening to damage property, and threatening death. "Based on the seriousness in his tone, I didn't think for a second he was joking", the salesman testified in court at Akbari's trial, the result of which was that Akbari was found guilty, and Monday he was finally sentenced. 

 

Crown prosecutors for their part had suggested a four-to-six-month jail sentence to be followed by three years of probation, DNA registration, and a weapons prohibition. Akbari's lawyer on the other hand, felt a conditional discharge, a finding of guilt without jail time or criminal conviction would be more appropriate. In the end, it seems that the judge favoured the lawyer's version of justice. 

 

In apparent sympathy with the defendant Judge Prutschi described Akbari's difficult life prior to his arrival in Canada, his restaurant work supporting wife and two teenage children, and an Ismaili Muslim community network expressing support for his rehabilitation while not condoning the threats. His shawarma franchise was cancelled. He went on denying he had issued any threats, expressing opposition to violence and antisemitism. 

 

At Toronto's Adath Israel Synagogue. Photo by Peter J. Thompson /National Post

 

"The result of the unprecedented rise in antisemitism has left a palpable dread hanging over the community. This atmosphere of despair is only amplified by the actions of Mr. Akbart."

"Jewish Canadians did not and do not feel safe in their own communities. The constant threat of attack has left members of the community in perpetual fear for their well being and has led to members of the community questioning their future as Canadians." 

Richard Robertson, director, B'nai Brith Canada