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The Toronto 18 Case Continues: Mubin Sheikh Testifies

Published

June 14, 2008

We previously covered the case of the Toronto 18, as they’re known, in this post. The trials continue and the plot thickens as Mubin Sheikh, the Crown’s ~~star~~ only witness testifies in court.

Please excuse me while I rush off to the bathroom and proceed to barf up the remains of my dinner. Indeed, that’s how I feel after having read the above news article.

Apparently, Mubin is such a good Canadian boy – how could we ever doubt his word? Goodness me, the dear lad cannot even bring himself to say the word “Negro” (or the more derogatory derivative thereof)… such are his sensibilities. A lewd joke further increases his credibility in the eyes of the reporter (it served as a reminder that one can be an observant Muslim and have a sense of humour).

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But oh hey, let’s forget the fact that he’s a crack addict and a history of violence! Sssshhhh, don’t you know that it has nothing to do with the trial at all? Stop bringing up irrelevant facts! Oops, wait, it’s not that irrelevant after all – turns out that the reason he took on the case was so that he could score enough cash to pay for his addiction.

The media, however, is quick to forgive their darling for anything that could possibly hurt his reputation; although his beard, “Islamic dress” and certain other glaringly obvious signs of “Muslim-ness” are usually things used to belittle Muslims in the media, in this case the fact that he gleefully entrapped his brothers in Islam and created this whole mess trumps it all. Mind you, Mr. Sheikh does have a way with words; an eloquence that cannot be denied… and unfortunately, this contributes a great deal to the masses acceptance of what he has to say. How he says things, as opposed to the veracity of what he says, is what affects the audience the most. As the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said, “Indeed, in eloquence there is magic.” (Abu Dawood, Ahmad)

What interests me is that Mr. Sheikh’s testimony (summarized below), is given far more attention and less scrutiny than that of the defense lawyers’. Although it’s been noted over and over again that the entire “plot” was haphazard, foolish, and quite unlikely to happen in real life, the media loves returning to the original picture painted – that of a group of dangerous young Muslim men plotting to commit some drastic act of terrorize on Canadian soil… indeed, in the initial stages, the case was labelled as some kind of Canadian version of al-Qaeda.

According to the media’s twisted sense of (il)logic, Mubin Sheikh’s testimony simply reinforces that idea, despite the fact that anyone objectively scrutinizing the details of the case (the public details, anyway) would easily come to the conclusion that – assuming these young men really did harbour those feelings and wished to plan such an attack – it had absolutely no chance of success… that is, until Messrs. Sheikh and Unknown Informant #2 conveniently arrived on the scene with military experience, weapons licences, and the funds to obtain ingredients for bombs – all these being previously unavailable to the group.

In any case, let’s quickly summarize the main points of Mr. Sheikh’s testimony.

The plot was already developed before he became involved. Targets were identified, method of procedure decided upon, and claims were made of weapons caches acquired (never materialized, however).
A group of youth attended a 12 day “military camp” somewhere in Northern Ontario, where they played paintball as a simulation of live combat and watched “Jihadi videos.” Oh, and they made frequent trips to the nearest Tim Horton’s for hot chocolate.
The ringleader of the group claimed to have been overseas in Afghanistan, and to have “Jihadi contacts” and “links” to shuyookh in Saudi Arabia.
The leader (mentioned above) was extremely emotional – at one point Mr. Sheikh questions his mental health, citing a possible imbalance.
Several individuals known to have access to weapons were identified for recruitment.

Something to note is that on one hand, Mr. Sheikh presents the group as being weak, inexperienced, and incompetent; on the other hand he argues that they were dangerous and their attempts were serious enough to be successful.

Although the inconsistencies and glaringly obvious weaknesses in the case are clear to anyone who scrutinizes the known facts, it is yet to be seen how the court case will play out and what the fate of the remaining suspects will be. AlHamdulillaah, 7 of those involved have had their charges stayed/ dismissed; Allah only knows if those currently in custody will be able to follow suit.

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Zainab bint Younus

Zainab bint Younus (AnonyMouse) is a Canadian Muslim woman who writes on Muslim women's issues, gender related injustice in the Muslim community, and Muslim women in Islamic history. She holds a diploma in Islamic Studies from Arees University, a diploma in History of Female Scholarship from Cambridge Islamic College, and has spent the last fifteen years involved in grassroots da'wah. She was also an original founder of MuslimMatters.org.

22 Comments

Abu Mujahidah

June 14, 2008 at 10:25 AM

Bismillah

Asalamu alaikum

Jzk for this update.

a terrifying thought: how many mubin shakes are there, out there?

ws

Reply
Faraz

June 15, 2008 at 4:47 PM

I had more respect for the Globe and Mail before they hired back Christie Blatchford, who was writing for the awful National Post beforehand. She has written some pretty controversial articles in the past regarding the Muslim community in Toronto, which are only a few notches better than the type of drivel that Fox News likes to promote. A terrible journalist, for sure.

As far as informants, I can be pretty sure that there are more “moles” out there that we don’t know of. There are some people who have been suspected, but you don’t want to create that atmosphere where everyone is suspicious of one another. But to think that there aren’t any others doing this sort of work is somewhat naive. I know I’ve been approached by CSIS before directly, as have many of my friends, and I’m sure that at least some of us were asked to do that sort of dirty work. They are really quite sinister in their dealings, and I’m sure they take pleasure in seeing our community become fragmented by these issues. May Allah protect us all.

Reply
AnonyMouse

June 15, 2008 at 8:09 PM

Honestly, I wonder how the woman ever managed to get hired by ANYONE claiming to be an authentic news source! I think she took a wrong turn when applying for a job – surely she’s a tabloid writer and not a real journalist?!

I think you just have to go with your gut feeling when it comes to informants and whatnot… my dad’s had experience with at least one person who was definitely a paid mole, who asked weird questions about Jihad and offered to “sacrifice” himself if only my dad would send him somewhere to fight (my dad ended up calling the cops on him but suspiciously, the guy was released without any problems!); and there are many others out there who are unfortunately not as obvious about what they’re doing… the best thing is to be quite blunt and clear about the fact that no matter what, we do not believe in nor are we advocating going out in the streets and killing non-Muslims.

May Allah protect us from the shayaateen amongst Jinn and mankind; and protect us from all harm, ameen.

Reply
Moiez

June 16, 2008 at 12:57 AM

Ameen. Just so this fitna that is starting amongst the muslims doesnt get out of hand We should do our utmost to stop it. We should get to know the people we are dealing with before we begin to make judgements about them. This is what the non-muslims want us to do. I mean have you ever noticed that we are being pushed to think a certain way. That brothers and sisters is what is happenning and many of us are falling into that trap but back to the point, my suggestion is to get to know the person in depth first and the sunnah way of actually knowing someone is if 1) You lived with him/her 2) If you have travelled with him/her and 3) You have done business with him/her, and if these things dont comply with you and the brother or sister keeping your mouth shut is probably better because you could be backbiting. I remember when a family moved to my community and he and his family had rumors spread all over the community about being extremists and that these people had a history of conspirating against other masjids and people were believing it. except for me of course : ) but why? because I didnt now anything about the brother and his family all I saw was good from him and even though people were telling me to stay away from this brother I went deeper into getting to know him without of course putting myself in harms way and it turns out I was right, the brother was not an was not an extremist matter of fact he is now a very good friend of mine. that being said now once again the same thing is happening to a new brother and subhanallh the person telling me to keep my gaurd against this brother is the same brother who had rumors about him being spread! So my point is before talking to other people about a member of your community, scratch that, before talking about any muslim to anybody whether he or she is in your community or in depths of the ocean, know the person and prevent this fitna from spreading into our ummah. May Allah protect us and give us the common sense we need to be able to do our part in protecting our selves from the enemies of Islam and to give us brains to think about what we will say before we say it because when words come out they can not be returned.

Reply
thesufiway

June 16, 2008 at 4:23 PM

bismillah ar rahman ar rahmin

Brothers and sisters you talk about the author of the article as if she has done something wrong by painting Mubin with nur. She does not vilify the accused but does what all journalists do tell the story, the way they see it and the way that sells the most papers. I have litle comment for Mubin or the accused as Allah is the only judge , the only one who can truly see into our hearts. I do have a comment on the muslim response and how easy they are to judge without clear proof, very unlike our beloved Prophet SAWS. Second I think its sad that one one reading the article made a comment on the gun reference calling it Bilal, astaghfirallah. What have we come to as a nation, peace, mercy, forgiveness, tolerance, acceptance, justice I guess these are but a few of the things that died in our hearts along with our beloved.
May Allah grant each of us the ability to see with clarity and have mercy on our souls.

salam

Reply
AnonyMouse

June 17, 2008 at 3:49 PM

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080617.BLATCH17/TPStory/National/columnists

:lol:
At first I was filled with disgust for her, now she cracks me up. The woman would do better to pen cheap romance novels than continue to darken the pages of any publication claiming to be a newspaper.

Reply
Zainab

June 18, 2008 at 11:12 PM

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/445724

Reply
Aalia

June 19, 2008 at 1:51 PM

Asalaam `alaikum :-)

I remember watching the interview of Mubin Sheikh by CBC (?) with my parents, who are not Muslims. Something didn’t feel right but my parents kept saying, “good thing he busted them or else we would’ve been attacked… etc” only I wasn’t all too sure. In the documentary it did mention he had an old addiction to crack and was violent, but Mubin Sheikh claimed to have turned his life around after becoming a practising Muslim. Is there any proof that Mubin Sheikh is still addicted to crack? (Not trying to make trouble, I’m just wondering if he actually still is a crack addict!) While I was watching the show they had some clips of him with his family (niqaabi wife–a Canadian convert– in the park with their kids, him wearing a thobe and a turban) but it wasn’t portrayed with the usual “oh see how backwards their lives are” flavour I am used to seeing in the media.

Allah forgive me but I never gave a thought to what actually happened between him and the young men accused of plotting attacks. Maybe because I was too naive back then to realize that just because one declares their Islamic faith openly and appears to be following the Sunnah, doesn’t mean they don’t have a secret agenda.

There is always a creeper hiding in the shadows of the masjid, waiting to “expose” his brothers. My husband has been approached by such losers, but I think he bored them to death with da`wah, not a master-mind plot of bombings they wanted to hear LoL ;-)

Reply
jss

September 26, 2008 at 11:37 AM

“Oh, and they made frequent trips to the nearest Tim Horton’s for hot chocolate.”

lol, I prefer their french vanillah……

Reply
MUBIN SHAIKH

September 28, 2008 at 2:08 PM

IN YOUR FACE, Khawaarij-wannabe’s

The evidence was OVERWHELMING – I was TRUTHFUL and CREDIBLE. The camp was decided BEFORE I got involved – the gun was NOT mine, there was NO SET-UP etc.

How STUPID do all of you and that reject documentary look now?

Publish an apology now that you have TOTALLY REFUTED by the JUDGE who has access to ALL the facts in the case.

Reply
Amad

September 28, 2008 at 2:49 PM

Mubin, I wonder about something. How do you feel about yourself and your actions? When you spent any time in Tarawih or Qiyaam ul-layl (that is if you did), did your actions bother your heart? Did you feel remorse? Did you think that you could have done it all differently?

There may be a thousand discussions and a thousand arguments, but in the end, the fitrah that Allah has placed within us, the conscience that we all possess, tells us so much more. So, are you able to reconcile everything that has transpired within your hearts? Do you feel confident that when standing in front of the ultimate judge (not a human, imperfect, often-biased judge), Allah, you could confidently justify your role in all this, knowing that Allah knows what is in the depths of your soul? Leave out cognitive dissonance, if possible, for now. Don’t justify. Just tell us about the conflicts in your heart, if any. Maybe its all good for you, but I really hope to hear more.

Reply
Mubin Shaikh

September 28, 2009 at 10:19 PM

Look – exactly one YEAR from the previous email – and look at the developments thus far: TWO adults have plead guilty. Now go over the assumptions by all of you – your accusations against the merits of the charges – and compare with what the situation is today.

It is the very Canadian system that you have no value for – that will release your brothers. 3 years in solitary confinement has quite a bit of currency when it comes to sentencing. Think of how lucky you are being in Canada…MS

Reply
- Maverick
  
  October 8, 2009 at 3:01 PM
  
  Mubin,
  
  Cut it out with your pathetic spin and, to quote Gandalf – “Be silent. Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I did not pass through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm.”
  
  Given your role in the case of course no one expects you to be an impartial commentator on the surrounding events. You’re hiding lots of facts and nuanced items all in an effort to improve your image.
  
  The two adults plead guilty for expediency reasons. NOT because they were tried and proven guilty. It was plain, simple political math. If those two boys had persisted, then the Crown would have deliberately dragged it out for years, causing greater anguish for the families and ever-crying mothers of the boys. And at the end of those many years, the Crown would have pushed for life sentences and the Judges wouldn’t have looked kindly upon the boys tying up the courts’ resources for so many years, and thus would not have been so generous in calculating time served prior to sentencing.
  
  The boys decided to plead guilty so as to get out faster, to be reunited with their families, and to move on. Great. The crown and the prosecutors got to trumpet the guilty pleadings to the public and make everyone think that they did their due diligence in bringing the accused to such a point.
  
  I know you personally. And so do many others in the GTA community. You tried to set me up, and you tried entrapping others too. You were just pure walking bait.
  
  Let’s jog your memory a little, shall we? To be extremely specific and crystal clear, it was a cool December night in 2005. We were at Dar-at-Tawheed in Mississauga for a qiyaam. It was “Brothers’ Nite”. Some guys were outside manning the BBQ, some guys were playing dodgeball in one court, other guys were playing basketball in the court, some guys were lounging in the masjid itself. Others were sitting in a room next to the basketball court with myself and you. Cracking jokes, chilling, waiting for the food.
  
  You were talking a lot of smack about your gangbanging days, you were showing off your tattoos and reminiscing about the old times.
  
  At one point in the conversation you explicitly stated we should call “your boys” down from Scarborough with their monster trucks, so that we could go meet CSIS agents in a dark alley in Toronto, and use the trucks to smash up their cars, and that we should “leave the agents in a bloody mess” in order to “send a message” because you knew that many of our families were being harassed by CSIS agents and you feigned sympathy in order to try and bait unsuspecting youth. These comments you made in that room were witnessed directly by myself and the other guys you were talking to, but none of us bought it. Even though we did not know that you were a spy with ulterior motives, we didn’t react the way you would have wanted us to, did we? We didn’t fall for your bait.
  
  So, why all the fishing lines all over the place? Why? Were you being paid by the hour? Were you paid based on how many boys you reeled in? Money. That’s what you were in it for, eh? And later on you claimed in media interviews that it wasn’t about the money, but then when it was revealed that Soheimy was paid millions of dollars for his role in the sting operation, you cried foul and tried to bill the Canadian government for more money. OH BUT NO!!! ITS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY!!! YOU WERE JUST SERVING YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS AND THE COUNTRY!!!
  
  Screw you. Myself and others want to see Canada safe as well. We’ve said this in public and private. But we don’t go around drumming up business by provoking and misleading innocent members of the community for our personal benefit.
  
  When your cover was blown a few months after the preliminary hearings started, you decided to act pre-emptively. Your former lawyer was tipped off that the community knew who the anonymous agents were. He was also a lawyer on this case at the beginning, serving as legal counsel for one of the accused. When he realized there was a conflict of interest in representing the accused and the state agent at the same time, he publicly stepped down from the case citing miscellaneous reasons.
  
  So you wanted to call the shots now, before the Muslim community and public-at-large found out about you and your dirty secrets, so you went to the media with your sob story, seeking sympathy from the public and the Muslim community.
  
  But if your cover hadn’t been blown, you would have never gone public, you would have stayed in the shadows, collected your money, and continued to be the agent provocateur sending innocent boys and men to jail, and all while you were planning on starting up and running your own little private security company. How did those plans turn out by the way? Did you get the license to setup shop and operate?
  
  You had plans, and God had plans … yup … finish the sentence boy.
  
  After everyone found out about you late summer of 2006, I watched you as you pathetically crawled all over the net like a paranoid and hunted madman, clutching at straws, endlessly Googling your name, going on discussion boards to try and spin your story, desperately trying to prop up the crumbling facade. I watched as you would lose your temper, and challenge people to swear by God about their accusations on you, yada yada yada. A real nice game of brinkmanship you played. Very well played sir. GOOD SHOW, CHAP!! GOOD SHOW I SAY!!!
  
  To quote the contemporary poet Rhianna:
  
  Oh, How about a round of applause, Yeah
  A standing ovation
  Oh, Yeah
  Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
  
  You look so dumb right now
  Standing outside my house
  Trying to apologize
  You’re so ugly when you cry
  Please, just cut it out
  
  Don’t tell me you’re sorry cause you’re not
  Baby when I know you’re only sorry you got caught
  But you put on quite a show
  Really had me going
  But now it’s time to go
  Curtain’s finally closing
  That was quite a show
  Very entertaining
  But it’s over now (but it’s over now)
  Go on and take a bow
  
  We know you were trying to entrap many people in the public. We know. The families know. Community leaders know. The lawyers on the case know. The boys in Toronto who you used to to smoke and do drugs with, they know too. No one wants to support a two-faced rat like you. No one wants to associate with someone who stands accused of physically assaulting young girls. (My, you’re such a MAN.) Not even your “boys” – in front of you they’re all smiles and old pals, haha, behind the scenes you have no clue who they’ve talked to, what details they’ve spilled. I hope you paid up those dealers in Shaam, too. They were pretty pissed when you ran off without paying them.
  
  I’m sure all of this is just fluff to you, so lets get down to the real item that you’re probably most interested in: You want me to swear by Allah that what I said above is true, etc etc.
  
  I do it willingly and explicitly and in front of everyone here. I swear by Allah 3zza wa Jall that what I said above is true. And on Yaumul Qiyamah, why yes, I may just stand there in front of everyone and point my fingers at you and say:
  
  “Ghaddaar”
  
  And then I’ll let Allah ta3ala, the Most Merciful and Just, be the ultimate Judge. That’s why I’m not going to rant out some big fat la3nah on you, I’m not going to condemn you to eternal misery in your grave and Jahannam thereafter. I’m not going to call down fire and brimstone upon you.
  
  I have complete confidence in Allah, wa huwal Mu7eet, that He will not be unjust to you, nor to those whom you setup and betrayed, or to the families who have suffered so much because of your lack of morals.
  
  He will give you what you deserve, He may forgive you if He so chooses.
  
  But as for myself, nah, I think I’ll wait until the Big Day.
  
  Until then … have fun and … sleep tight.
  
  Toodles!
  
  Reply
  - Mubin Shaikh
    
    November 4, 2009 at 10:32 AM
    
    In the Name of Allah, Full of Grace, Full of Mercy
    
    Ah Maverick – how dare you swear an oath when you have made so many errors in your comments? By Allah I ask that The Most Merciful forgive you for your ignorance:
    
    1. You say I did drugs with members of the Toronto 18 (I would LOVE to hear with whom)
    
    2. You say I ran off on drug dealers in Syria (Dennis Edney brought this up once and so it forms part of the evidence and I cannot comment on it)
    
    3. You say my cover was blown (yet I was the one who went public)
    
    4. You say others found out about my drug use (yet I myself came clean on that so that no surprises were waiting for me in court)
    
    5. You say I asked for more money because I heard ElSohemy’s request (maybe you should go back and look chronologically when that info first came out and when I requested my funds – you will see almost a YEAR in between).
    
    6. The security company you refer to was underway BEFORE the T18 – and YES I did get my license (which is done provincially and has NOTHING to do with the Federal govt. – learn your institutions properly – you are university educated). btw – I closed the company down and threw away the license. But I am sure you knew that right?
    
    7. Dar At Tawheed you say? Is that not the Salahuddin satellite office – the same Salahuddin where the T18 were active? And you are trying to tell me y’all are just a bunch of altar boys is that right? Might I reference the Toronto Life article with Aly Hindy where he ADMITTED he reported (the ringleader) to the authorities? Bet you didn’t know that one either, did you? But then again you don’t think ANYTHING wrong was going on do you? You think this is TOTALLY a false operation with not a single iota of evidence right? So all this evidence they are showing in court is all just manufactured right? And you say I am on drugs? WOW!
    
    8. The lawyer you refer to is Arif Raza – then counsel to Saad Khalid. Little do you know he was NOT a lawyer for me EVER – in fact I WORKED with him and he is also a good friend of the family so THAT is why he pulled away. Get your facts straight before stepping up O Son of Abdullah! BTW – those others lawyers who you think claim I set them up – WHICH lawyers? Cuz I suggest you talk to Faisal Mirza and Nader Sachik – ALSO good friends. I talk to more of the T18 lawyers than you know (yes govt. agents – I do and I do so in full view so to be independant from the govt.)
    
    9. STILL on the entrapment thing eh? Deaf, dumb and blind – they will not realize. I have been cleared in a court of law of any entrapment where the judge had FULL access to the evidence. There is a phone video that ZAK HIMSELF made testing out a circuit – that HE built. WHY would you deny that? ElSohemy had nothing to do with the trigger only the fuel – so don’t try that either. WHY would you deny even that?
    
    10. btw – you know Rihanna does not write her own songs right? That the vast majority of artists have writers?
    
    See what I mean? I will systematically, comprehensively and with PROOF show you how mistaken you are. However, it is similar to the blind following of Christian missionaries I used to deal with that I see in you and your like. No matter WHAT evidence is presented – you will cover up and deny (the very definition of kufr).
    
    No matter. WHEN (InshaAllah) Steven Chand gets off – let us hear from him what his views on me and this so called entrapment is shall we?
    
    And Allah is Irresistable, Supreme!
    
    Now that you have left this issue to Allah to decide on The Day of Judgment – for the record, I absolve you for your false accusations because it is done under mistaken assumptions.
    
    I suggest you pay attention to the evidence that is YET to emerge.
    
    Mubin Shaikh
    
    Reply
    - Maverick
      
      November 4, 2009 at 12:24 PM
      
      *yawn*
      
      piss off, loser.
      
      Empty words. Talk is cheap and you’re full of that.
      
      sleep tight.
      
      Reply
Clandestine Clown

October 5, 2009 at 12:51 PM

i am a real spy. i am breaking all the rules by even commenting. shaikh should know that he has won the hearts and minds of quite a few of us. i want to end by saying that after 46 years of christianity, today i bear witness there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is His messenger.

Reply
Mubin Shaikh

October 8, 2009 at 12:28 PM

Today (oct.8, 2009), Zakaria Amara, the leader of the bomb plot voluntarily plead GUILTY to knowingly participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause and explosion in advancement of that group.

“Which of the signs of your Lord will you deny”.

The reason for me taking notes is to remind us of that Day – when we all face our trial. MS

Reply
UmmK

October 8, 2009 at 10:50 PM

Mubin, may you be destroyed along with your filthy lies, read Maverick’s comment above, you know just incase you *missed* it:
http://muslimmatters.org/2008/06/14/the-toronto-18-case-continues-mubin-sheikh-testifies/#comment-51128

Reply
- Mubin Shaikh
  
  November 4, 2009 at 10:42 AM
  
  May you be cured of the hatred that consumes you – for my Beloved Nabi (SallAllahu Alayhi wa Sallam) teaches building not breaking – Psalms, not bombs. MS
  
  Reply
ME

January 14, 2010 at 12:23 PM

Zakaria Amara apologizes: (Globe and Mail)

The 24-year-old Canadian mastermind of an al-Qaeda-inspired plot to explode truck bombs in downtown Toronto has issued an abject apology to Canadians.

â€œI deserve nothing less than your complete contempt,â€ Mr. Amara told Mr. Justice Bruce Durno as he read an â€œopen letter to Canadiansâ€ during his sentencing hearing. He pleaded guilty to terrorism offences last October and is to be sentenced on Monday.

These were the first public remarks by Mr. Amara, a ringleader of the so-called â€œToronto 18â€ plot, who spent the spring of 2006 trying to procure huge quantities of explosive chemicals in order to build truck bombs.

The plot was to pack three U-Haul trucks with a least a tonne of fertilizer, before exploding the truck bombs outside the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Offices, and a military base outside Highway 401. Mr. Amara and a small splinter cell of bomb plotters hoped the attack would force Parliament to pull Canada’s soldiers from Afghanistan. In the spring of 2006 he built prototype detonators as he tasked others getting his bomb ingredients, but one of his accomplices turned out to be an undercover police agent.

Mr. Amara wore a blue sweater vest, a buttoned down white shirt, and neatly trimmed beard as he addressed the court. He apologized for being nervous and speaking in a jumbled manner, as he tried to explain what led him down â€œthe path of extremism.â€

Starting off by quoting the Quran, in hindsight, he said his interpretation of Islam was â€œnaÃ¯ve and gullible,â€ and that his belief system made worse by the fact he had â€œisolated himself from the real world.â€

Today he told the court he has been rehabilitated by his time awaiting trial in jail â€“ mostly through his interactions with fellow prisoners who challenged his hate-filled ideology. He promised he would change from a â€œman of destructionâ€ to a â€œman of construction.

One friendly inmate who turned him around, Mr. Amara said, was a banker who had worked in the Toronto Stock Exchange building â€“ â€œironic,â€ he told Mr. Justice Bruce Durno, since he had plotted blowing up the TSE.

Mr. Amara apologized to Canadians generally and Muslims in particular because of the â€œunwelcome attentionâ€ and scrutiny his actions prompted. â€œThe gravity of damage I caused to you make any apologies inappropriate,â€ he said.

Even though Mr. Amara lived and worked in Mississauga â€“ a diverse Toronto suburb with a population of more than a million â€“ he made sound like he ghettoized himself into social circles comprising only fellow extremists.

It wasn’t until he got to prison, he said, that he began to learn tolerance. â€œWhen I was arrested, and luckily and gladly that happened,â€ Mr. Amara said, â€œfor the next three years I was incarcerated all by myself alone.â€

Solitary detention was counterproductive, he said, but in recent months he moved into general population. That changed his outlook.

Mr. Amara, a Sunni Muslim, talked of how he had also befriended a Jewish inmate, and a Shia Muslim, men from two religions he would have viewed with only contempt prior to his incarceration.

He said that these inmates â€œhad trouble with trying to reconcile my gentle and kind characterâ€ with his terrorists acts. Their words, he said, â€œcaused me to reconsider.â€

â€œWhen someone shows me I’m wrong,â€ Mr. Amara said, â€œI’m willing to accept it.â€

Mr. Amara faces life in prison, a punishment which the Crown is requesting. The defence suggests an 18 to 20 year sentence would be more appropriate. Because he has spent three and a half years in custody, and Canadian judges generally give a two for one credit for â€œdead time,â€ he’ll likely be understood to have already served the equivalent of seven years of his sentence when he is sent to a penitentiary.

Either way, he will get one of the stiffest â€“ if not the stiffest â€“ terrorism sentence imposed since Parliament passed the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Only a handful of offenders have ever been convicted under that law.

Many of them were Mr. Amara’s co-conspirators. Two young men who were teenagers at the time of the plot, Saad Khalid and Saad Gaya, have pleaded guilty to being Mr. Amara’s henchmen. They have expressed regret for their role in the plot.

A fourth alleged bomb plotter, Shareef Abdelhaleem, 34, is currently on trial.

The rest of the young suspects arrested three years ago face no accusations of being involved in the bomb plot.

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Reporter

June 25, 2010 at 1:59 PM

http://www3.thestar.com/static/toronto18/index.6.html

the Star’s comprehensive online coverage of the toronto case – complete with court exhibits, videos and interviews

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- Amad
  
  June 25, 2010 at 2:08 PM
  
  the first video u see, Tarek fatah raises his ugly specter. “Muslims” like these are far worse than those who don’t even share our faith, as they are enemies within, who sell out everyday mainstream Muslims for their own benefit. Tarek is one of those who is on the forefront of efforts to basically sideline mainstream Islam. He is also constantly raising alarms against the Muslim community to maintain his own profile, kind of like Steve Emerson.
  
  Unfortunately, the media keeps peddling this charlatan, even though his inclusion only makes the entire report/news less credible.
  
  Tarek Fatah Does NOT Represent Me
  
  Reply