Government seeks to revoke Canadian citizenship of convicted terrorist Misbahuddin Ahmed

And then there were two. The focus (so far) is on those who have been convicted in Canadian courts (which avoids all sorts of due process issues with respect to those convicted overseas):

Pakistan-Canadian Ahmed, 32, is serving 12 years at Warkworth, a medium-security prison in Ontario.

A third accused was acquitted of the one conspiracy charge against him and charges against the fourth man were dropped.

“Misbah knows about this and instructed me to do whatever is possible to prevent the revocation of his citizenship,’ said lawyer Ertel. “We intend to challenge the legislation and oppose this in every way.

“Like many Canadians I’m no fan of the draconian legislation or the apparent lack of restraint in its application,’ he added.

Ahmed now has 60 days to respond to the government’s application.

When he sentenced Ahmed, Ontario Superior Court Justice Colin McKinnon said he was convinced that Ahmed had renounced his terrorist inclinations.

He refused to impose a maximum sentence, meaning Ahmed could apply to the parole board for early release after serving one-third of his sentence.

“But for the fact that Mr. Ahmed has been convicted for terrorism offences rather than some other serious offence,” said the judge, “he would likely be considered an appropriate candidate for a conditional (non-custodial) sentence.”

He rejected the prosecutions request for a 20-year sentence saying it would be an “injustice.”

Ahmed, a former Ottawa Hospital diagnostic-imaging technician and the father of three young daughters was convicted of conspiracy to facilitate terrorism and facilitating terrorism. He was acquitted of a more serious third charge of possessing an explosive device.”

Crown prosecutors say Ahmed’s sentence is too lenient and are appealing.

Ahmed, for his part, is appealing the sentence on the grounds it is too harsh.

Government seeks to revoke Canadian citizenship of convicted terrorist Misbahuddin Ahmed | Ottawa Citizen.

Misbahuddin Ahmed sentenced to 12 years for terrorism crimes | Ottawa Citizen

Stronger message than revocation in this criminal conviction and sentencing:

“That carries with it an utterly deplorable stigma that is likely impossible to erase,” he said. “He has brought untold shame upon his family, his community, and peace-loving Muslims throughout this country.”

Turning to Ahmed, he added: “You will now have ample time to reflect on the fact that you enjoy the immense privilege of living in one of the great democracies in the free world. Whether you know it or not, you are a lucky man.”

Misbahuddin Ahmed sentenced to 12 years for terrorism crimes | Ottawa Citizen.

Misbahuddin Ahmed found guilty of 2 terrorism charges and ISIS Recruitment Video with Canadian

Yet another terrorism conviction. Born in Pakistan, raised in Montreal, radicalized in Canada, a likely candidate for citizenship revocation under the new Citizenship Act:

Conspiring to knowingly facilitate a terrorist activity carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, while participation in the activities of a terrorist group has a 10-year maximum term.

Ahmed will be sentenced on Sept. 15.

Mark Ertel, Misbahuddin Ahmeds lawyer, said after the verdict that his client was misguided for a short period of his life but is a good man. “I’m devastated by the verdict, it’s never easy to lose a case and it’s especially hard to see someone like this be convicted of these types of offences,” said Ahmeds lawyer, Mark Ertel.

“He’s a good man, a family man, the jury obviously found that for a short period of time in his life he was misguided but the acquittal on the third count proves they realized if there was any danger to Canadians or anyone he put an end to it.”

Crown lawyers said during the trial that Ahmed was a “committed jihadist” with an eye on potential Canadian targets, pointing to a bag in his basement they alleged held bomb-making materials.

Misbahuddin Ahmed found guilty of 2 terrorism charges – Ottawa – CBC News.

And another example of a terrorist or extremist, born, raised and radicalized in Canada, and would not be subject to revocation (if he were still alive):

An Ontario janitor who died while fighting with an extremist group in Syria said in a posthumous video released Friday that he had left Canada because he could no longer live among non-Muslims.

“Life in Canada was good,” André Poulin, a Muslim convert who fled to Syria following a string of arrests in Timmins, Ont., said in an Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham recruitment video that encouraged others to follow his path.

“I had money, I had good family. But at the end of the day, it’s still dar al-kufr [a land of disbelief] and at the end of the day you cannot obey Allah fully as you can by living in a Muslim country, in an Islamic state,” he said.

…. But Poulin was hardly a regular Canadian. He was a troubled youth who had repeated brushes with the law for crimes such as uttering threats until he left to remake himself as a jihadist fighter. He was killed last summer in northern Syria.

“He accepted Islam in a land at war with Islam,” a narrator said in the video, referring to Canada, “in a land with few Muslims, in a land where evil, kufr [disbelief] and sin called him from every direction and corner to succumb to Satan and to his desires.”

It said he had married after arriving in Syria and that his wife was pregnant when he was killed while trying to capture the Mennegh airport. In his address from the grave, Poulin implored recruits to leave the West and join him.

“My brothers, how can you answer to Allah when you live on the same street, when you’re using their light and you’re paying taxes to them and they use these taxes to assist their war on Islam. You can’t live as a Muslim,” he said, adding those who can’t fight should “give money.”

The flow of radicalized youths to Syria has become a top priority for Canadian security and intelligence officials, who fear recruits could one day return home, bringing their paramilitary training and violent anti-Western ideology with them.

Parents of those lured to Syria have also becoming increasingly vocal, calling for government action to deal with radicalization and recruitment. Several dozen Canadians are fighting in Syria, and some have joined ISIS, which has seized parts of northern Syria and Iraq through a campaign of guerrilla warfare, suicide bombings and mass executions.

Concerned about the number of Canadians leaving to join armed factions in Syria, imams from across the country issued a statement last month warning Muslim youths against traveling abroad to fight in foreign conflicts.

The Canadian Council of Imams denounced the “narrow, bigoted, dogmatic distortions of the purveyors of violence and terror,” and called for “meaningful discussions, to engage in preventative strategies and to find meaningful solutions to this growing threat in our country.”

‘Regular Canadian’ killed in Syria conflict featured in slick, new ISIS propaganda video