Man jailed for Via Rail plot expands his appeal

Esseghaier says mental illness distorted view of life sentence

A man found guilty of plotting to derail a passenger train between Canada and the U.S. is seeking to appeal his sentence as well as his conviction, saying mental illness previously kept him from making rational decisions about his case.

In an amended inmate notice of appeal filed Wednesday with Ontario’s top court, Chiheb Esseghaier said his original notice targeted his conviction alone because he was unable to understand the severity of his life sentence.

“At the time I filed that notice, I was very ill. I suffer from schizophrenia,” he wrote.

“I was suffering from delusions and believed that I would die and my soul would ascend to heaven on December 25, 2014. Because of this delusion, I did not believe that the life sentence imposed was real and did not want to acknowledge the existence or legality of the sentence by appealing it.”

Esseghaier began taking antipsychotic medication after he was transferred to a prison in British Columbia and eventually realized the gravity of the sentence, he said.

The Tunisian national, whose mental state was raised during the sentencing phase of his trial, is asking the court to give him more time to launch his expanded appeal.

Esseghaier and his co-accused, Raed Jaser, were found guilty in 2015 on a total of eight terror-related charges between them. They were sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole until 2023. Jaser is also appealing his conviction.

During Esseghaier and Jaser’s trial, a jury heard that an undercover FBI agent gained the men’s trust and surreptitiously recorded their conversations, which made up the bulk of the evidence in the case.