A New Zealand man was sentenced Monday following an investigation that found he had posted a video online calling for attacks in retaliation for last year’s deadly shootings at a Quebec mosque.
The two-minute video appeared on YouTube the day after a gunman opened fire at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City on Jan. 29, 2017, killing six worshippers.
“In times like this, its time to establish the Islamic State in every country. It is time we must defend our religion with our lives. No more protesting, its time for jihad,” read a post on his Facebook page at the time.
Jordayne Madams, 20, was arrested by New Zealand Police in November and charged with possessing terrorist propaganda and child sexual abuse images.
A police search turned up dozens of videos and images of the so-called Islamic State, as well as a copy of The Terrorist’s Handbook and more than 200 images of child exploitation. New Zealand Police told Global News the video about Canada “formed part of our investigation” but he was not charged over it.
In a courtroom in Palmerston North, New Zealand on Monday, Madams was sentenced to six months of community detention and two years supervision, Jono Galuszka reported on the news website Stuff.co.nz.
Judge Stephanie Edwards said a psychiatrist had determined that Madams had Asperger’s syndrome, which can cause fixations on topics. His age, guilty plea and lack of previous convictions also factored into the sentence.
“You are now adamant that you no longer have the fixation you had with ISIS,” the judge told Madams.
The video about Canada has been removed from YouTube. It was posted under the name “Abdullah Al-Hami Muhammad,” whose Facebook profile showed a man wearing a sweatshirt with the ISIS logo.
VIDEO: Trial for man accused of terror attack on Toronto military recruitment centre begins
The judge said Madams had produced and shared videos calling for “jihad against tyrants” and retaliation against Muslims killed in the Quebec mosque killings and an attack on a Texas mosque, Stuff.co.nz and The New Zealand Herald reported.
New Zealand police said they had “worked with our law enforcement partners” on the case.
The RCMP would not comment.
Mental health issues are not uncommon among those drawn to violent extremism. Ayanle Hassan Ali, who attacked soldiers at a Toronto military recruiting centre while saying Allah had sent him “to kill people,” was found to suffer from schizophrenia.
A Toronto-area man, Abdulrahman El-Bahnasawy, was to be sentenced on June 27 after pleading guilty to plotting attacks in New York City for ISIS. Global News has reported he was taking a medication used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
An Ontario man arrested by the RCMP after contacting ISIS in 2014 to say he was “ready to fight and support ISIS until death” was found to suffer from a childhood brain injury and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
The lawyer for Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, who allegedly struck an Edmonton police officer with a car with an ISIS flag inside it before driving a rented truck at pedestrians on Sept. 30, has said an assessment found “substantial” mental health issues. But following two psychiatric reports the Somali refugee was found fit to stand trial.
Comments