Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism. In 2006, we came dangerously close. A cell of home-grown terrorists was preparing acts of extreme violence when Canadian authorities infiltrated the group. That group became known as the Toronto 18. No member has spoken publicly – until now.
Shareef Abdelhaleem agreed to an exclusive jailhouse interview with the host of 16:9 The Bigger Picture, Mary Garofalo. We sat down with him at the Maplehurst correctional complex in Milton, Ontario shortly after he was sentenced to life behind bars with no chance of parole for ten years.
In this intimate conversation with a terrorist, Abdelhaleem explained how he went from a wealthy self-made man to a man RCMP called one of the “principal architects” of a frightening plan to attack Canada. He told 16:9 the change didn’t happen overnight.
“This is madness,” he said. “It is stupidity to think that I just woke up one morning and said, “˜You know I think I want to go kill 5 or 6 people today.’ You think that is what went on?”
In fact, Abdelhaleem told 16:9 his transformation took years. His family immigrated to Canada from Egypt when he was thirteen, settling in Mississauga. He told 16:9 his family was religious.
“The five standards of Islam were obeyed. Let’s put it that way,” he said. “Prayers had to be said.”
After university, Abdelhaleem started his own computer programming company. He was earning as much as $350,000 a year, driving a baby blue BMW convertible and living like a king. Until he met Zakaria Amara, the so-called ringleader of the Toronto 18 bomb plot.
“I sympathized with his points of view, you know the injustices that are happening to the east and to the Muslims,” Abdelhaleem told 16:9. “And these are not perceived injustices. They’re real.”
The plot included setting off one tonne ammonium nitrate bombs at three targets: the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Toronto offices of Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, and a military base in eastern Ontario.
Still, Abdelhaleem told 16:9 he doesn’t think death and violence were the group’s true aim.
“The point is not to hurt. The point is to actually keep casualties at a minimum – If not zero,” he said. “If by some chance someone could get hurt, right, it is a possibility but not a likelihood. What it is, is it’s a wake up call to western governments.”
That wake-up call was going to go all the way to Ottawa. The enraged group also allegedly planned to storm Parliament, holding MPs hostage and beheading them one by one until Canadian troops were pulled out of Afghanistan.
Fortunately, the group’s plans never made it that far. In June 2006, a dramatic police take-down ended the plot, intercepting the delivery of what the would-be terrorists thought were bomb-making materials. Across Toronto, the police made simultaneous arrests.
Abdelhaleem was among those arrested. He was later found guilty of participating in a terrorist group and of intending to cause an explosion. The judge said he showed no remorse. Abdelhaleem told 16:9 that’s not true.
“I did what I did because I was sucked into it,” he said. “I did have sympathy for the cause. If it wasn’t for that sympathy I would have gone to the police… I disagree with the labelling unremorseful. I am remorseful.”
At the same time, Adbelhaleem told 16:9 he believes Canada’s foreign policy makes our country a target for terrorist acts.
“Canada stopped being a neutral country with the ushering of our current government,” he told 16:9. “It is no longer neutral. It does back up the state of Israel which enslaves many Palestinians.”
For more of our exclusive jailhouse interview with Abdelhaleem and for our story on the men who say they can reach and reform even the most radical terrorists, watch 16:9’s season finale this Saturday.
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