WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH AN UNREPENTANT TERRORIST?

I got much of this information from an article published in the National Post and other media sources. I am presenting the facts and arguments to you and also presenting to you my own opinion of what I think the outcome should be.

In October 2009, Said Namouh, a 36-year-old Moroccan citizen who was living in Canada, was convicted of four terrorism-related charges for plotting attacks in Germany and Austria in order to get the NATO nations to withdraw troops from Afghanastan. A lengthy report filed by USA terrorism expert Rita Katz during Said Namouh's trial indicated that targets included Vienna-based OPEC, the United Nations, German government officials, prominent politicians in Germany and Austria as well as the Euro 2008 soccer tournament.

He was found guilty of one count of plotting to set off a bomb in Vienna, participating in a terrorist act, facilitating an act and committing extortion for a terrorist group. He was sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole until he had served at least ten years in prison.

According to the Canadian prosecutor, this terrorist said that he wished to die as a martyr and that he was ready to fly abroad to achieve his goal as a dead martyr.

I don’t know if that was pure unadulterated bravado or if he was serious but people like this man should never ever be permitted to mingle with members of society. Life in prison is most suitable for their final destinations although in 1985 when I addressed the United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders held in Milan on this subject, I advocated death for such terrorists no matter how minute their role in the act of terrorism might be.  

Said Namouh was a member of the Global Islamic Media Front, (GIMF) an organization authorities said was involved in propaganda and jihad recruitment, and described as a media tool for al-Qaeda.

It was alleged that Namouh spent countless hours creating, distributing and redistributing numerous propaganda videos that included images of deaths of western soldiers and of suicide bombings. On his computer were dozens of videos and other propaganda materials, as well as thousands of pages of transcripts from online discussions proving that he was an active member on jihad forums and message boards.

He was also accused of publishing a video of the Gaza kidnapping of BBC journalist Alan Johnston by a group known as the Army of Islam,  an organization affiliated with GIMF. Judge Claude Leblond said in his ruling that he believed the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) was a terrorist group in the eyes of Canadian law.

Officially, he won’t be released from prison until October 2019 unless the government wants to deport him earlier. He has stated that he doesn’t wish to be deported back to Morocco. He wants to remain in Canada. I can understand that. Canada is one of the top countries in the world that is considered the best place to live in. Morocco is hardly in that category of being one of the most desirable countries to spend your life in. I visited it in 1974 and although I was enthralled as a tourist, I would never want to be a citizen of Morocco.

This terrorist is still an unrepentant terrorist and yet, Namouh is quietly asking Ottawa to let him stay on ‘humanitarian and compassionate’ grounds. I am forced to run for the nearest bucket so that I can regurgitate when I consider his use of the words humanitarian and compassionate. Did he have those words in mind when he spewed forth this venom? 

As he argued his case before the Immigration Refugee Board recently, he complained he was the victim of a conspiracy involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Conservatives and Israel, and said he should not be deported in the interests of his child.

If he really has his child’s interests in mind, he should leave Canada when he is released from prison and leave his child in Canada where he or she can learn to be a good citizen and not emulate his or her father. It isn’t his child’s interest he is advocating—it is his own interest. 

Namouh is unique among those convicted so far under Canada's post-9/11 anti-terrorism laws. While others, such as Momin Khawaja and Zakaria Amara of the Toronto 18, were Canadian citizens, Namouh is not a Canadian citizen so that means that he can be deported once he completes his sentence. The reason why they are proceeding with his deportation so early in his sentence is because appeals of deportation orders take a great deal of time and they want his appeals dealt with before he finishes his sentence in prison so that when his term of imprisonment is up, he can be immediately taken to the airport and placed on a plane and flown from Canada forever.

However, strangely enough, his deportation order was issued for another criminal conviction. Two months before he was arrested for terrorism, he broke into his girlfriend's house by forcing open a chained side door.

She testified at his trial. "I told him to leave. He asked me if I still loved him. I told him less and less. He then left the bedroom and went into the kitchen. He cut his right arm with a knife in a few spots. I don't know how many times; there was a lot of blood."

While that crime landed him a deportation order, the IRB also considered his subsequent terrorism convictions in deciding whether to let him stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

This terrorist was 30 years old when he immigrated to Canada in 2003, sponsored by his wife, a waitress from Maskinonge, about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal. When they split up in 2006, he moved to Trois-Rivières and began frequenting password-protected jihadist websites.

In one Internet chat he wrote; “Terrorism is in our blood, and with it we will drown the unjust.” In another, he said his dream was to die a martyr and have his son grow up a mujahedeen, or soldier of God.

He got involved in the Global Islamic Media Front, a pro-al-Qaeda group devoted to inciting and facilitating terrorism. He helped produce and distribute recruitment and training videos with names like Jihad academy video, anti-personnel mine video and explosive belt video.

When he began to suspect he was under investigation, he sent out an urgent message asking how to "erase all the jihadist films and books that are on my computer without leaving any traces, may Allah bless you all."

The Quebec judge who heard his case concluded that Mamouh was deeply involved in such activities. "He was in the thick of things," the judge wrote. "The accused has an essentially violent view of jihad. Moreover, the accused displayed enthusiasm in the conspiracy to carry out a terrorist bombing. He even helped find explosives. He was determined to act."

But when Namouh appeared before the IRB recently to make his case for mercy, he denied everything. He claimed he had done nothing except use the Internet to learn about Iran and Iraq. He said he had been framed. He alleged that he had never talked to anyone about killing people. According to him, this is a political game and a conspiracy between the RCMP and the Conservative government. He stated that he was tried unfairly to protect Israel and that the Canadian authorities invented the attack.

The IRB didn't buy it. Member Marie-Claude Paquette said Namouh was a “violent person (and possessing) the risk of reoffending is still high today and there is currently no indication that rehabilitation is possible.”

The fact that he was prone to blaming everyone else instead of himself despite the overwhelming evidence that was found on his computer that damned him, is evidence that he hasn’t reformed. He is still unrepentant. Do we the people of Canada really want this garbage in our country? I think not. Is he so stupid that he really believes that Canadians are willing to take a chance and give him what he wants? When you have a really stupid terrorist walking amongst you, that’s when you want to hide. But why should we hide from this piece of garbage? We ship much of our garbage out of our country and that’s what we should do with this piece of garbage.

He has no real friends in Canada or family to speak of other than his 12-year-old son and the best thing we can do for him is to make sure that he never sees his father again. Why should a child grow up with a father who only filed his income tax returns twice in the nine years he lived in Canada? Why should a son live with his father who advocates terrorism?

Namouh’s ties to Canada, Ms. Paquette said, were "almost nonexistent." She dismissed his bid to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. He could be deported as early as 2017, when he becomes eligible for parole. Last month, he appealed the decision to the Federal Court. The case continues.

Hopefully by 2017, this piece of garbage will shipped back to Morocco where I am sure the authorities there will be waiting for it to arrive. They have better ways in dealing with terrorists than we do.