A Pakistani man arrested in Quebec for an alleged plot to kill Jews in New York City is being held in a detention centre hundreds of kilometres from Montreal, where he says the French-speaking guards don’t understand him.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, who appeared remotely in Quebec Superior Court this morning, says he’s the only person at the provincial detention centre in Rimouski, Que., who speaks English, and he wants to be returned to a facility near Montreal.
His lawyer in Montreal, Gaétan Bourassa, says it’s difficult to communicate with his client because he’s so far away, and he’s been unable to show him court documents related to his case.
A Superior Court judge on Friday agreed to recommend that Khan be returned to the Montreal region and set his next court appearance for Dec. 20.
Khan, a Pakistani national living in Ontario, was arrested Sept. 4 in Ormstown, Que., allegedly on his way to carry out a mass shooting in support of the Islamic State at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn around Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.
United States officials charged Khan with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization, and Canada has agreed to a request to have him extradited to stand trial.