Im all for fighting terror, but this whole story doesnt sound right and some mistakes were made. Nothing is really clear.
'Homegrown baloney'
No foundation for charges, Muslim community, families say
CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, June 04, 2006
Unprecedented security, including rooftop snipers and machine-gun toting tactical police officers, greeted members of the Muslim community, reporters and worried family members yesterday as the accused in one of Canada's largest terrorism cases appeared in court.
Wearing leg-irons and handcuffs, 15 of the 17 suspects arrested late Friday as part of an anti-terrorism sweep shuffled into the Brampton, Ont., courthouse for their first appearances. They face charges of participating in the acts of a terrorist group, including training and recruitment, firearms and explosives offences for the purposes of terrorism and providing property for terrorist purposes.
With the exception of two men, ages 43 and 30, the accused are all in their teens and early 20s.
"It is all fake, for God's sake. There is no foundation" for the charges, said Mohammed Abdelhaleem, father of Shareef, 30, of Mississauga, Ont., who is among those arrested.
Inside the court, the accused and their lawyers heard nothing about the alleged evidence gathered against them.
Jim Leising, a Justice Department prosecutor, asked that all bail hearings be postponed until Tuesday.
"The investigation is still ongoing. The police are still executing warrants," Leising told John Farnum, a justice of the peace.
After hours of waiting, relatives only caught short glances of their loved ones, some of whom complained through their lawyers that they'd been denied access to medication, eyeglasses, blankets, and the Qur'an, the Muslim holy book. A bail hearing is expected in several weeks.
Rocco Galati, a lawyer representing two of the men, criticized the security.
"I do not feel safe walking across an entryway with automatic weapons pointed in my direction," he told the judge.
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 said his son's only crime is that "he goes and prays in a mosque."
His son, Shareef, was born in Egypt but came to Canada at a young age. He's an unmarried computer programmer with no criminal history, said Galati, his lawyer.
Aly Hindy, imam at the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in Scarborough, outside Toronto, said the charges would be proved false.
"They talk of homegrown terrorism. This is homegrown baloney."
