Terror suspect ordered extradited to U.S.
ACCusED oF supporting ISIL ForEign fightErs
• An Edmonton judge ordered the extradition of a Canadian man to the United States to face charges of providing support to Islamic State foreign fighters.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice John Little ruled Thursday that Abdullahi Ahmed Abdullahi, 33, will be sent to the United States to stand trial on charges of providing material support for terrorists and conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists.
In order to rule in favour of an extradition request, a judge must find that the offence the defendant is accused of is also a crime in Canada, and must find that a reasonably-instructed jury could find the defendant guilty. A judge ruling on extradition does not need to make determinations about the evidence.
Abdullahi was arrested in Fort McMurray, Alta., in September 2017, and has been held in custody since.
According to documents unsealed by a federal court in southern California in January, Abdullahi was born in Somalia and spent time in the Minneapolis and San Diego areas before becoming a naturalized Canadian citizen.
The grand-jury charge from the United States alleges that between August 2013 and November 2014 Abdullahi gave money to other men to travel to Syria to fight for the Islamic State. Four of the men were his cousins and one was a friend, according to the documents. All five died while fighting in Syria, according to the court documents.
Some of the money came from a 2014 Edmonton jewelry store robbery, which Abdullahi allegedly took part in with the express purpose of getting profits to fund the efforts of his “co-conspirators” in Syria.
Abdullahi and two other men are facing criminal charges in Alberta provincial court in connection to the robbery.
During the hearing Thursday, federal Crown prosecutors Stacey Dej and Kanchana Fernando argued that evidence of Abdullahi’s activities could be found through communications saved in draft emails on an account that several people, including Abdullahi, had access to. In order to subvert the authorities, Abdullahi and others would communicate using code names and phrases to provide updates on Islamic State activities, to encourage others to raise and send money to support the terrorist efforts, and to aid recruitment and fund travel of new members.
The United States alleges Abdullahi wrote in these draft emails using the aliases “Fish” and “Phish,” and that this is proof that he knew the money was aiding in the terrorist group’s efforts.
But Abdullahi’s defence lawyer, Akram Attia, called the evidence provided by two witnesses on whom the Crown relied to decode the draft email system “manifestly unreliable.”