War crimes charges against Toronto ISIS suspect are a first for Canada

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

War crimes charges against Toronto ISIS suspect are a first for Canada

A Toronto delivery driver accused of dismembering a prisoner in Iraq almost a decade ago has become the first suspected ISIS member to face war crimes charges in Canada, experts said.

An indictment filed in the Ontario court has charged Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi with four counts, including torture and *******, under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.

The alleged incidents occurred during the height of ISIS in 2014 and 2015. Three years later, Eldidi flew to Toronto and made a refugee claim that was accepted. He is now a ********* citizen.

Global News revealed last summer that Eldidi, a former

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

driver originally from Egypt, was allegedly seen in a 2015 ISIS video, using a sword to chop the hands and feet off a prisoner.

“I can confirm that Ahmed Eldidi is charged with offences under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act,” Nathalie Houle, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada spokesperson, said Monday.

Story continues below advertisement

The charges are a first for Canada, said Prof. Michael Nesbitt, associate dean of research at the University of Calgary law school, and a leading expert on national security law.

“It’s kind of a big deal,” he said.

As far as he is aware, Canada’s prosecution service has never before used the war crimes act against a suspect for alleged crimes committed in the territory of the Islamic State, he said.

Rather, Canada has mostly used war crimes laws for deportations and citizenship revocations. In 2021, a B.C. resident

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to war crimes for promoting hatred against residents of the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

1:42
Father, son arrested in Toronto terror plot appear in court

Eldidi was already charged with aggravated assault over the alleged incident in Iraq, as well as terrorism charges for what the RCMP said was a disrupted ISIS attack plot in Toronto.

Story continues below advertisement

But six months later, the Crown has filed more substantial war crimes charges, alleging the 62-year-old committed mutilation and “outrages upon personal dignity” during an armed conflict.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

The victim is not named in the indictment, obtained by Global News, but is described as a “protected person in a non-international armed conflict.”

The charges were approved on Dec. 11 by George Dolhai, Canada’s deputy attorney general.

ISIS committed untold atrocities in Syria and Iraq, including the genocide of Yazidis, but in 2019 it lost the last of its territory to Kurdish fighters and an international military coalition.

Since then, there has been little in the way of justice against ISIS members, including in Canada, where only a handful of those who have come home after serving in the group have been prosecuted.

The majority of ********* ISIS women who have returned to B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have been arrested on peace bonds that restrict their movements but do not amount to a criminal charge.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

3:16
ISIS resurgence fuelled by youth recruitment

Trending Now

Trudeau ‘has to go,’ NDP’s Singh says in call to ‘resign’

Racy photos of Bashar Assad discovered after his fall spark ridicule

Eldidi’s alleged crimes were captured on a four-minute video released in 2015 by the ISIS branch in northwest Iraq. Titled “Deterring Spies,” it shows a prisoner confessing before being led outside to a deserted area.

Story continues below advertisement

The prisoner is then shown suspended from a crucifix while a man wearing an ISIS hat hacks at his appendages with a sword. Prosecutors have alleged the man wielding the sword is Eldidi.

Despite his alleged past in Iraq, Eldidi was able to fly to Toronto’s Pearson airport in 2018. His refugee claim was accepted by the Immigration and Refugee Board, and he became a citizen in May.

However, following a subsequent tip from French authorities, the ********* Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team launched investigations.

Police arrested Eldidi and his son Mostafa, 27, after they allegedly recorded a video in which they held an axe and machete, and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror group.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

2:26
Feds reveal security failures that allowed Toronto terror suspects into Canada

The case has raised questions about gaps in Canada’s immigration security screening system. The government has defended its actions but said it was reviewing the matter.“The review is ongoing and more information will be communicated once available,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in a statement last month.

Story continues below advertisement

At a Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security hearing  in August, Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman questioned how “somebody like this, who’s an alleged ISIS terrorist” was able to obtain citizenship.

“Do you really think that that’s how the system should work? Do you really think that this is not a colossal failure of your government?” she said.

The number of ISIS-related investigations has surged across Canada, with 20 suspects arrested this year and last, compared with just two in 2022.

According to police and experts, youths are driving the surge in ISIS activity as the terror group rebounds from its 2019 defeat in Syria.

*****@*****.tld

More on Toronto
More videos

&copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#War #crimes #charges #Toronto #ISIS #suspect #Canada

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up