One more Al Qaeda terror plotter convicted in Canada

TORONTO - A Canadian court Thursday convicted yet another terrorist in the so-called Toronto-18 terror plot even as Prime Minister Stephen Harper said criminal and terror laws will be tightened. The Al Qaeda-inspired plot was unearthed in June 2006 with the arrest of 18 Toronto-area Muslims, mostly of Pakistani descent.

In what could have Canada’s 9/11, the terrorists had planned to storm and blow up the nation’s parliament, take leaders hostage and behead the prime minister.

They had also planned to drive explosive-laden trucks into the offices of the Canadian spy agency, the Toronto Stock Exchange and a military base here.k

To carry out the plot in revenge for Canada’s participation in the Afghan mission, the terrorists had undergone training in a winter camp far away from Toronto in December 2005. But the plot was uncovered with the help of a mole - a local Muslim youth who was paid more than $4 million by police.

In the on-going trial of the terrorists here, a city court had Wednesday freed Amin Mohamed Durrani after sentencing him for seven and a half years in jail. The reason for his release? Under lax Canadian laws, he was given credit for time spent in jail since his arrest more than three years ago.

As Canadians expressed shock over the release of a terrorist who wanted to wreak havoc on the country, Harper said the amended criminal code will lock terrorists and criminals for the full length of their sentence. A recently passed bill will annul the so-called two-for-one credit from the Criminal Code, eliminating any credit time for criminals, the prime minister said.

Under this country’s lax criminal laws, lawyers for unsentenced criminals use all ploys to delay their trial as the time spent in remand is counted towards jail sentence.

Meanwhile, the city court conducting the terror trial found another accused Shareef Abdelhaleem guilty of his role in the plot. The prosecution had no difficulty to establishing his guilt as the defence lawyer didn’t contest the charges.

But the court ordered no conviction as the defence lawyer requested stay on the case on grounds of “entrapment” of his client by the mole used by police to uncover the plot. The mole - Shaher Elsohemy - was a former friend of the terrorist.

The ringleader of the plot, Zakaria Amara, was sentenced to life term earlier this week.

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)