A Toronto man who had hundreds of ISIS, Al Qaeda and Taliban videos on his phone was placed on a terrorism peace bond on Friday due to concerns he might commit extremist violence.
During a court hearing, a federal prosecutor said Daniel Khoshnood had come to the attention of the RCMP counter-terrorism team through his association with Kevin Omar Mohamed.
Khoshnood, 30, had “expressed an interest in violent extremism” while serving in prison, and a search of his phone turned up “extremist literature,” including the Al Qaeda propaganda magazine Inspire.
Material about ISIS, bomb-making and attack planning was also found on Khoshnood’s phone, along with more than 200 “violent propaganda” videos of terrorist groups, according to the Crown.
“Police uncovered some further online comments by Mr. Khoshnood suggesting support of extremist groups, and uncovered evidence suggesting that he had taken steps to locate some corrections staff with whom he had previous dealings,” the Crown said.
Khoshnood agreed to be placed on a terrorism peace bond that will restrict his activities for 10 months.
He is required to follow 25 conditions, including wearing a GPS monitor for five months and participating in de-radicalization programming under Project ReSet.
He is banned from having any contact with Mohamed, can’t operate a motor vehicle or possess weapons and must not use any device that can access the internet.
The RCMP asked the court for the peace bond on April 16, alleging that Khoshnood might otherwise participate in the activity of a terrorist group.
Canadian authorities have been using terrorism peace bonds to control suspected extremists they allege pose a threat, but without charging them with terrorism offences.
Global News reported this week that an unprecedented four-year terrorism peace bond had been imposed on Mohamed, who has served a prison sentence for attempting to join an Al Qaeda-linked faction in Syria.
Khoshnood has a record of making bomb threats and served time in prison for robbery.
While imprisoned, he requested books on “Islamic extremist militant groups” and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, parole records show.
“You also wrote on a piece of paper (that you knew staff would find), that you wanted to find information on bomb-making techniques, chemicals used to make bombs, and that you wanted to learn how a specific terrorist made car bombs that ‘killed 77 people LOL,’” a parole decision reads.
“You told the psychologist that you had thoughts of ‘shooting people, killing people, cutting them up, just for fun … they’re just thoughts though.'” He scored “unusually high in psychopathy,” the parole board added.
His sentence ended Sept. 23, 2019.
But according to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team later learned of his ties to Mohamed.
The two met and discussed communicating through encrypted messaging applications, the Crown told the court.
Khoshnood was initially arrested for a breach of probation, but when a search of his phone turned up alleged terrorist materials, police sought a peace bond.
He was released from custody on May 3.
Asked by the Ontario court if he intended to abide by the conditions of the terrorism peace bond, he responded, “Yes, I do.”
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