Via terror trial jurors still at impasse
Sticking point is over testimony of FBI agent who served as key witness
Deadlocked jurors in the Via Rail terror trial dragged their deliberations through a ninth day Thursday even as they appeared to home in on the testimony that could break their impasse.
The marathon trial appeared to be almost over Wednesday when the jurors told the court they were stuck on several charges related to one defendant. But Ontario Superior Court Justice Michael Code urged them to try again. And on Thursday morning they asked the court to replay a short section of testimony from the undercover FBI agent who served as the Crown’s key witness.
The recording concerned the weekend the agent first met one of the two defendants, Raed Jaser, in Toronto while on a road trip from Montreal with the other defendant, Chiheb Esseghaier.
Jaser and Esseghaier have both been charged with conspiring to derail a passenger train in southern Ontario for the benefit of a terrorist group.
In the recordings played Thursday, the agent, who testified under a false name, described meeting Jaser in his modest walkout apartment.
“What stood out to me was his reverence for Sayed Qutb,” said the agent, who referred to Qutb as a “radical cleric” known in the “mujahedeen community” as the founder of the jihadist ideology that preaches attacks on the western world.
That same night, Jaser allegedly warned the agent to be careful with his words. “We are being watched,” Jaser said, according to the agent. “The government knows who we are and where we are at all times.”
In a later conversation that weekend, the agent said, Jaser discussed with him the tenets of an Islamic state and Shariah law. He allegedly told the agent “Islam is not rational,” adding: “We may be viewed as too extreme, too radical. The thing is, we are.”
That testimony appeared to bolster the Crown’s case that Jaser was a dedicated jihadi bent on derailing an Ontario passenger train in a terrorist attack. However, tapes of cross- examinations also played Thursday painted a different picture.
Jaser’s defence has portrayed him as a phoney terrorist hoping to scam money off the undercover agent, a man he thought was a wealthy, devout businessman from the United States.
In the recordings of cross- examinations played Thursday, defence lawyer John Norris walked the agent through a description of Jaser’s modest means, from his small apartment to his old Toyota.
At a dinner later that same weekend, the agent testified, Jaser pitched him a long series of business schemes, including a lentilexporting business and a Toronto hamburger chain. “You wondered, is he trying to get some money off you?” Norris asked.
The jury has been sequestered since last week after hearing a month of testimony.
On Wednesday, the eighth day of deliberations, the jurors told the judge they had reached an impasse. They were unanimous on all verdicts for one defendant and on two verdicts for the other. But they could not agree on the verdicts for the other charges facing the second defendant.
The jury did not indicate which defendant they were deadlocked on. But Thursday’s request appeared to indicate it was Jaser.
Esseghaier and Jaser both face charges of conspiring to damage property at the behest of a terrorist group and conspiring to commit murder at the behest of a terrorist group. Esseghaier faces three counts of participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, while Jaser faces two counts of that charge.
Both could face anywhere from 10 years to life in prison if convicted.
Esseghaier has refused to participate in the trial. Jaser pleaded not guilty.
Deliberations are set to resume Friday morning.