Mr. Big statements admissible
Secret recordings can be used against defendant in terrorism-related trial
A Quebec court judge ruled Monday that statements made by former Gatineau resident Ismaël Habib and secretly recorded by undercover police are admissible in court, meaning they can be used against him as his terrorism-related trial continues.
Habib, 29, was charged in March with attempting to leave Canada to participate in a terrorist group — ISIL — and giving false information to obtain a passport.
During Habib’s trial, which started last year but stopped before the defence could present its case, Quebec Court Judge Serge Délisle has heard evidence from the Crown detailing how several undercover RCMP agents led Habib to believe he was becoming part of a criminal organization.
The sting, commonly referred to as a Mr. Big technique, culminated in Habib telling an undercover agent acting as the fictitious crime ring’s boss that he had been in Syria for two or three months in 2013, and though ISIL didn’t exist at the time, he now lived to die and was bent on returning to join its ranks.
A 2014 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada established strict conditions under which evidence gathered during Mr. Big stings can be used.
Police did no wrong in the way they handled the situation, Délisle found.
Habib was not socially isolated, mentally ill or vulnerable. He was never pressured or coerced into offering the statements, and he never received large amounts of money or other benefits throughout the sting.
There was also other evidence presented, Délisle decided, that corroborated Habib’s statements about his intentions: His second wife testified that he had spoken about it, he had a contact in Syria — he showed undercover police a phone number at which the person could be reached — and searches of his computer showed he had researched ISIL and ways of leaving the country illegally.
The only thing the RCMP exploited was Habib’s strong desire to leave Canada for Syria, but not to the point that it affected the integrity of his statements to undercover police, Délisle ruled.
“Nothing shows that the accused said or did anything he didn’t want to say or do,” Délisle wrote in his decision. “The declarations are admissible.”
Habib’s lawyer, Charles Montpetit, said he would meet with Habib over the course of the next few days to establish what their defence will be. The case is expected back in court on Wednesday morning.
The RCMP’s sting operation came to an abrupt halt when Gatineau police arrested Habib on domestic violence charges in February.
Habib’s girlfriend in Gatineau has testified he was planning to go to Syria to join his wife and children and fight for ISIL. It was after he allegedly threatened to blow her and her son up in her car that she alerted Gatineau police.