Captive in Canada

Why did Canada’s security agencies allow the alleged terror plot to grow?

Media reports, largely based on government, police and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) sources, indicate that Canada’s security forces allowed the alleged Toronto terror plot to take shape and grow over many months, even years, and that they did so with the approval of their political superiors.

Story reported on 10-jun-06 by wsws.org

Full Story | June 11th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 46 views

Agents watched bomb plot suspects for more than 6 months

Last Updated: Friday, June 9, 2006 | 2:15 PM ET

CBC News

There are new revelations about the alleged bombing plot by a group of Toronto-area men that led to a massive police sweep last week, in court documents made exclusively available to CBC News.

According to the documents, the group is alleged to have been well-advanced on its plan to attack a number of Canadian institutions, possibly including the Parliament buildings, the RCMP and the CBC.

Alleged bomb-plot suspects were in a Brampton courtroom on Tuesday.
(John Mantha/CBC)

The documents repeat what was reported earlier this week, that the plotters hoped to take federal politicians in Ottawa hostage, and demand both the withdrawal of Canadian forces from Afghanistan and the release of some prisoners in Canadian jails.The alleged conspirators intended to decapitate hostages as a means of gaining their demands.  But later, the documents claim, one of the members, Zakaria Amara, 20, of Mississauga, Ont., became much more focused on exploding bombs at the heart of Canada’s financial district, targeting the Toronto Stock Exchange, as well as the Toronto headquarters of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and an unspecified military installation.

And for the first time, it has been revealed that one of…

Full Story | June 9th, 2006 News, The Moles | no comments | Email it! | 60 views

Canadian government, media use alleged terrorist plot to push right-wing agenda

Since Saturday, Canadians have been subjected to saturation media coverage of the smashing of an alleged Islamist terrorist conspiracy—one that reputedly included plans to storm Canada’s parliament buildings. The government, police and press are holding up this alleged plot as proof that Canada is in the front lines of the “war on terror.”

Story reported on 7-jun-06 by wsws.org

Full Story | June 8th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 44 views

Sensational charges, lurid headlines in alleged Toronto terrorist plot

The synopses provided by the prosecution to lawyers for the accused in the alleged Toronto terrorist conspiracy include sensational charges that have been seized on by the media to stoke up public outrage and fear.

The synopses claim that the Toronto group, which comprised 17 people, almost all of them young men or boys, plotted to storm the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, take members of Parliament hostage, and demand the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan. They further charge that the group targeted the Toronto Stock Exchange, power plants, the Toronto headquarters of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation building in Toronto for possible bombing or armed seizure. A defense lawyer has reported that one of the defendants, 25-year-old Steven Chand, is alleged to have said he wanted to behead Conservative Prime Minster Steven Harper.

Story reported on 6-jun-06 by wsws.org

Full Story | June 7th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 43 views

How the police watched the plan unfold…

It’s alleged that they called their project Operation Badr. And before its unravelling gripped the world’s attention on the weekend, it made quieter noises that police say they picked up on: a seemingly inconsequential gun seizure at the Canada-U.S. border; a gunshot near Cochrane in Northern Ontario; bullets shattering statues of Hindu gods during a target practice in a remote area in the Township of Ramara, Ont.; and the printing of business cards with a decidedly non-threatening e-mail address, Studentfarmers@hotmail.com

Story reported on 7-jun-06 by Globe & Mail

Full Story | June 7th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 109 views

Canadian Charges Detail Plan to Attack Parliament

Ten men accused of plotting bombings in major Canadian cities appear in court near Toronto. The men, all Muslims, were arrested Friday in Canada’s largest counterterrorism operation. According to charges made public in court, at least one of the suspects plotted to storm Canada’s parliament and behead officials.

Story reported on 6-jun-06 by NPR.org

Full Story | June 6th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 67 views

17 Held in Plot to Bomb Sites in Ontario

Seventeen Canadian residents were arrested and charged with plotting to attack targets in southern Ontario with crude but powerful fertilizer bombs, the Canadian authorities said Saturday.

The arrests represented one of the largest counterterrorism sweeps in North America since the attacks of September 2001. American officials said that the plot did not involve any targets in the United States, but added that the full dimension of the plan for attacks was unknown.

Story Reported 4-Jun-06 by New York Times

Full Story | June 6th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 75 views

Tight security for terror suspect’s court appearance

Security will be extremely tight in Brampton, Ont., on Tuesday as most of the suspects in an alleged bomb plot in Ontario appear for a bail hearing.

Story reported on 6-jun-06 by CBC.ca

Full Story | June 6th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 47 views

Lawyers for terror accused will ask for more time to prepare

Lawyers for supects in an alleged bomb plot in Ontario want to postpone Tuesday’s bail hearing because they have not had enough time to prepare.

Story reported on 6-jun-06 by CBC.ca

Full Story | June 6th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 46 views

Canada Muslims condemn alleged bomb plot

TORONTO, Ontario (CNN) — Canadian Muslim organizations have condemned an alleged plot to bomb Toronto-area buildings, while a lawyer for one of the 17 suspects in custody called the charges against them “vague.”

Story reported on 5-jun-06 by CNN.com

Full Story | June 5th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 52 views

‘All fake,’ father charges

Abdelhaleem, who works as a consultant for Atomic Energy of Canada and a hydro company, said his job has nothing to do with his son or the charges.

“He is a very decent and good kid. He has no violent inclinations at all. I couldn’t believe it when I heard. It is not in our family. We have no intentions of such things,” said Abdelhaleem, who added his son’s only crime is that “he goes and prays in a mosque.”

Story reported on 4-jun-06 by Edmonton Journal

Full Story | June 5th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 55 views

Six of 17 Arrested in Canada’s Antiterror Sweep Have Ties to Mosque Near Toronto

At least 6 of the 17 people arrested by Canadian authorities in a sweeping counterterrorism operation over the weekend regularly attended the same storefront mosque in this middle-class Toronto suburb of modest brick rental townhouses and well-kept lawns, fellow worshipers said Sunday.

Story reported on 5-jun-06 by New York Times

Full Story | June 5th, 2006 News | no comments | Email it! | 48 views