Two men are in court today facing several terrorism related charges in connection with an alleged plot to derail a passenger train from Toronto to New York. The plot apparently involved damaging a railway bridge.
Chiheb Esseghaier is a Tunisian national living and studying in Montreal, and Raed Jaser, formerly a stateless Palestinian, is a permanent resident, living in the Toronto region. Both are charged in what is called the Via Rail plot.
They were arrested in April after an eight-month RCMP investigation, and charged with conspiracy to commit murder in association with a terrorist group. Police allege they received guidance from al-Qaeda in Iran as they plotted to kill passengers on a train headed to Toronto from New York, possibly by derailing the train as it passed over a bridge. A third man, Ahmed Abassi, faces related charges in the United States.
Jaser faces four charges, including commission of an offence for a terrorist group. Esseghaier, who was doing doctoral research on nanosensors in Quebec, is facing five charges, including participating in a terrorist group.
Jaser entered a plea of not guilty, while the court has entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of Esseghaier. He had requested a lawyer willing to use the Koran as a reference for the case instead of the Criminal Code, and will be defending himself.
Canada attempted to deport Raed Jaser in 2004 on an outstanding immigration warrant after a string of criminal convictions, but he was set free because as a stateless Palestinian, born in the United Arab Emirates without citizenship, he could not be sent to any other country. He and his family flew from Germany to Toronto in 1993 on fake passports but although their refugee claim was rejected, they were allowed to stay under a “deferred removal” progamme.
In a 2013 interview with Radio Canada, former security specialist Michel Juneau-Katsuya said public transit has been the target of choice for terrorists with more than 500 attacks involving trams, busses, subways, and trains world-wide since the infamous September 11, 2001 attack on New York’s twin tawers.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.