The Ontario Court docket of Justice has granted extra freedom to a Canadian girl repatriated in April from northeastern Syria who was married to a infamous ISIS militant.
Dure Ahmed, who’s now residing within the Toronto space, was married to El Shafee Elsheikh, a member of an ISIS militant group recognized to its hostages as “the Beatles” due to their British accents.
Elsheikh is serving a number of life sentences in an American supermax jail for his position in a hostage-taking scheme that led to the deaths of eight American, British and Japanese residents.
Justice Reginald Alexander Cornelius ordered Ahmed on Thursday to enter right into a year-long terrorism peace bond that compels her to abide by greater than a dozen situations.
Ahmed will not be beneath home arrest however must abide by a curfew from 10 p.m. to six a.m. She should additionally put on a GPS monitoring machine.
“Primarily based on Ms. Ahmed’s historical past, beginning with her 2010 marriage to a high rating ISIS member, her time within the detention camps, there exists an affordable foundation to concern that she could turn into concerned in or support a terrorist group by indoctrinating, counselling or recruiting others to commit or take part in terrorist offences,” mentioned Justice Cornelius.
The RCMP arrested Ahmed in April on the airport in Montreal when she touched down on Canadian soil after spending greater than eight years in Syria, most of them in ISIS territory.
Her repatriation was a part of a deal the federal government struck in a Federal Court docket case to carry 19 ladies and kids residence from detention camps in northeastern Syria.
Ahmed was launched from custody beneath strict preliminary situations that prevented her from leaving her residence besides in restricted circumstances. Ahmed shouldn’t be going through any terrorism-related offences, not like among the different repatriated ladies.
‘She has proven the power to hide her motion’
Whereas issuing the peace bond at a courthouse in Brampton, Ont., the decide mentioned the Public Prosecution Service of Canada had “greater than ample foundation” to concern that Ahmed may take part in terrorist exercise on Canadian soil.
“She has proven the power to hide her motion,” mentioned Justice Cornelius. “She’s been uncovered to high-ranking ISIS members, she has been uncovered to ISIS ideology. And there’s info that means she has publicly extolled the virtues of ISIS and its ideology.”
Featured VideoA repatriated Canadian girl with ties to ISIS was married to a infamous fighter who’s now in a U.S. jail for his position within the executions of 4 American hostages. Dure Ahmed has not been charged with against the law however her presence in Canada worries some who misplaced relations to the Islamic State.
Cornelius accredited all the situations that had been specified by a joint utility submitted Monday by the Crown and Ahmed’s lawyer.
Crown lawyer Marie Comiskey described the proposed peace bond situations on Monday as giving “barely extra freedom beneath some secure checks” to Ahmed to “help” in her “re-integration into Canadian society.” The Crown mentioned the situations “nonetheless handle reputable” fears she may commit terrorism offences in Canada.
Yoav Niv, Ahmed’s lawyer, informed CBC Information his shopper made no admission of legal legal responsibility in court docket.
“The present situations had been arrived at on account of compliance with the situations of her bail and to permit for extra sensible realities of a single mom of two youngsters,” Niv mentioned Thursday after the court docket continuing.
Ahmed granted entry to laptop computer
Ahmed can even now be allowed entry to a laptop computer if she agrees to pay for and set up a program that permits the RCMP to watch her on-line exercise.
She can also be banned from talking with anybody tied to a terrorist group, utilizing encrypted messaging applications, or accessing social media.
An evaluation of a Twitter account the Crown alleges belonged to Ahmed revealed ISIS content material, together with expressions of help for Shariah regulation and for the position of the Islamic State’s ethical police, the decide mentioned.
The decide mentioned he acquired info from the Crown to recommend that Ahmed was conscious of her husband’s actions and the state of affairs in Syria earlier than she left the Larger Toronto Space in 2014 and travelled to Syria.
The Crown cited interviews Ahmed gave to media whereas in Syria. In them, she sought to painting life in an ISIS enclave as one thing near regular, the Crown mentioned.
“Everybody thinks while you come to Syria you’re going to be residing in tents within the mountains with no electrical energy or working water,” Ahmed informed Radio Canada in 2019.
“So that you get to Raqqa, you may have your individual home there’s electrical energy 24 hours and you reside in a pleasant home and also you’re consuming Pringles and also you’re consuming Twix and it’s such as you by no means left.”
The Crown mentioned Pringles and Twix had been thought-about luxuries in Syria on the time. The interviews recommend Ahmed was residing a life-style afforded solely to higher echelon members of ISIS, court docket heard.
The court docket additionally heard particulars of Ahmed and Elsheikh’s relationship.
On Monday, CBC Information and BBC made Ahmed’s ties to Elsheikh public for the primary time.
The Crown informed the court docket that Elsheikh mentioned previously he wasn’t in a position to stay a traditional life in Syria as a result of he was afraid of being focused by a drone.
Elsheikh mentioned he may solely take his youngsters to the playground at midnight, the Crown mentioned. Ahmed additionally expressed a concern of being killed in a drone strike in 2018, the Crown added.
U.S. prosecutors mentioned Elsheikh led a conspiracy that concerned the kidnapping of 26 hostages in Syria between 2012 and 2015. The cell was concerned in abducting, torturing and beheading hostages, and posting movies on-line for the world to see.
Featured VideoEl Shafee Elsheikh, a British nationwide and member of ISIS, has been sentenced to life in jail by a U.S. court docket. Certainly one of 4 militants generally known as the ISIS ‘Beatles,’ he was convicted for torturing and murdering American hostages.
Elsheikh was extradited and convicted in 2022 for his position within the deaths of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and support employees Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. U.S. prosecutors additionally accused Elsheikh of conspiring within the deaths of two British support employees, David Haines and Alan Henning, together with Japanese journalists Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.
‘I used to be a dumb woman in love’
Throughout unique interviews with CBC Podcasts and the BBC this week, Ahmed mentioned she was “oblivious to what was occurring” when she lived with Elsheikh within the de facto ISIS capital Raqqa.
Ahmed known as it a “silly mistake” to journey to Syria in 2014 to be along with her husband, based on interviews for a new podcast known as Bloodlines, a CBC-BBC co-production.
“I used to be a dumb woman in love and considering that I can belief any individual that I couldn’t,” she mentioned. “It was only a silly mistake, a silly choice I made, as a result of I simply felt that. Possibly I simply fell. What can go flawed?”
Ahmed mentioned she met Elsheikh, a British citizen, when he was visiting his aunt in Toronto. They had been married in 2010, she mentioned.
Lacking victims’ stays
Ahmed mentioned her marriage resulted in 2017. The Crown informed the court docket it believes the connection continued.
Not one of the stays of the victims of the hostage scheme have been recovered.
Ahmed informed CBC and BBC that “for the primary time,” she believes she has sufficient affect over Elsheikh to persuade him to disclose the place the hostages’ stays are positioned.
“If I obtained the prospect to,” mentioned Ahmed. “However, you already know, nobody has come ahead. Nobody has requested. Nobody. You recognize, so, we’ll see.”
The RCMP has declined CBC’s request for remark, citing the truth that the matter continues to be earlier than the courts.
The officer of Minister of Public Security Dominic LeBlanc mentioned that “whereas it can’t touch upon particular circumstances, supporting a terrorist group, domestically or overseas, is a critical legal offence.”
“Canada’s regulation enforcement businesses use each instrument at their disposal to guard Canadians and maintain perpetrators to account,” mentioned LeBlanc’s spokesperson Jean-Sébastien Comeau in a media assertion.
Comeau mentioned he wouldn’t remark additional as a result of the case is earlier than the courts.
