Captive in Canada

Try us or free us, suspect says (Shareef Abdelhaleem)

Source: Toronto Star, 26-dec-07

Mississauga man behind bars for nearly 19 months wants to hear evidence in case against `Toronto 18′ 

Isabel Teotonio
staff reporter

After nearly 19 months in jail, many of them in solitary confinement, accused homegrown terrorist Shareef Abdelhaleem wants just one thing: “Give us a trial or let us go.”

“This will affect our lives profoundly. We can never get back things, big and small,” said the 32-year-old, speaking to a reporter for the first time during a series of telephone interviews from jail about belonging to the so-called Toronto 18, an alleged Al Qaeda-inspired terror cell.

“These are the years when you grow a pot-belly, get married and have kids.”

Instead, said the computer programmer, he and most of his co-accused are behind bars at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton with their reputations in tatters and their futures destroyed.

And the worst part, he said, is they haven’t heard all of the evidence against them because a preliminary hearing for their case was abruptly halted in September before key witnesses took the stand.

“We were hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel with the preliminary,” he said. “It was like we were walking in the dark and you see a light and run toward it and suddenly it turns off.”

During the interviews, Abdelhaleem spoke candidly on various issues, such as:

Life before June 2, 2006, when he was picked up in a police sweep that netted 18 youths and men.

The international media frenzy accompanying reports that the alleged terror cell was plotting to detonate truck bombs, storm Parliament Hill and behead the Prime Minister.

Some of the evidence against them that has surfaced in court proceedings, which are covered by a publication ban.

Life in Special Unit 1K, which houses Abdelhaleem and six of his co-accused away from the general population.

Prior to the arrest, Abdelhaleem, who was born in Egypt and came to Canada around the age of 10, was recovering from open-heart surgery and preparing for a new contract with a telecommunications company. Because he was between jobs, he spent most of his days hanging out with buddies, recalled the self-described non-devout Muslim, who smoked, drank and loved to watch MuchMusic.

Now, his hours are filled with reading a book on computer architecture, both arguing and commiserating with the others, and watching a 14-inch television that’s located in a narrow corridor outside their cells. Nowadays, Abdelhaleem’s favourite show is Everybody Loves Raymond.

When not inside their cells - about six hours a day, he said - they’re allowed into the hallway, which doubles as a common area. For 20 minutes a day, they can also venture out into a concrete yard.

“Sitting in a hallway with metal benches and that’s it - this is your entire life,” Abdelhaleem said, adding he has shed 50 pounds while in jail and is being treated for depression. He also points out that visits with family through Plexiglas do little to ease the burden.

The seriousness of the allegations against him and his co-accused, some of whom he met for the first time after the arrests, only sank in weeks after they were jailed.

By then, reports had surfaced from a leaked copy of the Crown synopsis that Abdelhaleem was allegedly tasked as the intermediary between Zakaria Amara, one of the group’s alleged ringleaders, and a supplier of ammonium nitrate. According to the synopsis, Abdelhaleem looked for a storage site for the fertilizer and schemed for a way to benefit financially from the bombing of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Part of the Crown’s case surfaced earlier this year during a preliminary hearing for the four youths - three of whom have since had charges stayed. A preliminary hearing for the adults began in June but was abruptly halted in September when the Crown filed a direct indictment, meaning the case will go directly to trial. Abdelhaleem suspects the Crown employed the tactic, which came in the middle of key evidence being given by a police mole, to avoid the potential embarrassment of some of the accused being discharged at the end.

The move was a surprise because both sides had hammered out an agreement in which the defence made a number of concessions in return for the chance to question key witnesses, some of whom never took the stand and whose testimony is considered crucial.

As a result, the 12 adults who were in jail were able to reapply for bail. Two have so far been granted release.

But Abdelhaleem argues there’s little point in him applying for bail since key evidence that might have helped his case was never fully aired or explored because the preliminary hearing was cut short.

“We have faith in the justice system that they will bring back the preliminary because it’s what’s right,” he said. Otherwise it’ll likely be years before the case makes it to trial. “This is an abuse of process. … Why are we fighting to get back something we had a contract on?”

Although he couldn’t comment openly on the evidence, Abdelhaleem did say that if it were overwhelming he and his some of his co-accused would never have opposed the publication ban or be pushing for another preliminary hearing.

While he says he remains hopeful about the justice system, that feeling of hope appears to be waning.

“What we’ve learned over the last 19 months is that `innocent until proven guilty’ is a phrase,” he said. “It has no weight.”

Related: Shareef AbdelHaleem

December 26th, 2007 News | one comment | Email it! |  Print This Post | 267 views