HARD-LINE VICTORIA IMAM HAS B.C. MUSLIMS RATTLED
Canadian human rights group wants Kathrada prosecuted for hate speech
A militant imam in Victoria who openly calls Jews, Christians, atheists and free speech advocates “filthy” and “evil” is causing distress among Canadian Muslims, and there are calls for him to be prosecuted for hate speech.
“Younus Kathrada is not taken seriously in our community. Somebody making those claims is not part of Islam. But I guess there is a fringe element that follows him,” says Haroon Khan, a trustee at Vancouver's Al-Jamia mosque, which belongs to the B.C. Muslim Association and often holds interfaith events.
Kathrada — who leads an organization called Muslim Youth of Victoria that has more than 15,000 Facebook followers — recently referred to the French teacher who was beheaded near Paris for showing cartoons of Muhammad as “a cursed, evil-spirited filthy excuse for a human being.”
The hard-line imam has also appealed to his followers in Victoria and beyond to “destroy the enemies of Islam, and annihilate the heretics and the atheists.” He has told members to not vote for “filthy” and “evil” political candidates who support homosexuality or “Zionism.”
Kathrada first made international headlines last year when he called Christmas a “false festival” and said it is worse for a Muslim to wish someone “Merry Christmas” than it is to engage in adultery or murder.
And he's continuing with his online denunciations.
A Canadian human rights organization that has been tracking Kathrada's online sermons for years has been pressing for him to be prosecuted for hate speech.
“There must be consequences for years of relentless hate and incitement against Jews and others,” said Michael Mostyn, chief executive of B'nai Brith Canada, a Jewish service and advocacy group.
This fall, Mostyn said, Kathrada delivered an online sermon that referred to Jews as “brothers of monkeys and khanzeer (pigs in Arabic).” He asked God to “tear them apart.”
B'nai Brith, which has warned the RCMP's hate crimes unit about Kathrada's video sermons, says Canada's law enforcement system has shown in the past few years that it's capable of prosecuting people who advocate hate.
In November, B.C. resident Arthur Topham was sentenced to a 30-day conditional sentence plus three years' probation after failing to comply with the terms of his previous conviction in 2015, when a jury concluded he had wilfully promoted hatred against Jews, Mostyn said. Topham had described Jewish places of worship as “synagogues of Satan” and advocated forcibly sterilizing Jews.
The Victoria police department could not be reached for comment about whether Kathrada has been under investigation.
Vancouver human rights lawyer Aleem Harmal, however, said it's become difficult to take legal action in Canada for hate speech made on the internet.
The Conservative government of Stephen Harper repealed the part of the Human Rights Code that had allowed citizens to launch civil actions against online hate speech, said Harmal. As a result, hate speech on the web is now treated as a criminal offence, which is much harder to prosecute.
A hate crime is generally defined as speech, writing or behaviour that uses pejorative or discriminatory language about a person or group on the basis of such things as their religion, ethnicity or nationality, Harmal said, adding he didn't have the expertise to judge whether Kathrada's actions amount to hate crimes.
Three leaders of the B.C. Muslim Association, which represents most Sunni Muslims, either did not return messages or declined to comment.
However, Khan, noting Kathrada's group does not belong to the B.C. Muslim Association, said it makes some sense for people to push for the Victoria imam to be charged with a hate crime.
“He seems to be running amok. If he is defaming Christians and Jews, we strongly condemn that kind of language. We're all brothers and sisters,” said Khan, who is in the pharmacy business when not overseeing the Al Jamia mosque.
Khan will be the MC of a Jan. 29, 2021, Zoom forum against Islamophobia, which will include Liberal Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, federal Diversity Minister Bardish Chagger, Vancouver Coun. Christine Boyle, and RCMP hate crimes officer Anthony Statham.
Maintaining that Kathrada is “sidelined” among B.C.'s roughly 70,000 Sunni and Shia Muslims, Khan said he and other mainstream adherents will look further into what the sharp-tongued imam has been doing.
“We're very open hearted and open minded. He's more of a fringe group.”
Kathrada's Facebook page, which can be viewed by the public, has long featured running commentary in which he denounces perceived enemies of his intractable form of Islam, while his online followers, apparently using their real names, support and encourage him.
In recent weeks, France has been a key target of Kathrada's attacks. He has joined calls by some Muslim leaders in the Middle East for a boycott of all French products in protest of President Emmanuel Macron's defence of beheaded teacher Samuel Paty.
Paty was targeted close to his school near Paris for showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in class. His killer, 18-yearold Abdullakh Anzorov, was shot dead by police. Macron said Paty was killed by an “Islamic terrorist” for standing up for free speech.
Top Muslim leaders in Egypt, Malaysia, Morocco and Pakistan have said freedom of expression doesn't apply to insulting Islam or Muslims — and they argued Macron, who has launched a major crackdown on Islamic fundamentalism in his country, is promoting Islamophobia.