Lawyer for terrorism sympathizer to review `troubling' assessment

The lawyer for a Calgary terrorism sympathizer will review a “troubling” psychological assessment on his client ahead of his sentencing next month, court was told Thursday.

Defence counsel Alain Hepner told Justice Harry Van Harten he had only received the report this week and hadn't been able to review it with client Zakarya Rida Hussein and the young man's family.

Van Harten indicated he had not received any case law from Hepner or Crown prosecutor Kent Brown in advance of what was supposed to be Hussein's sentencing hearing on Thursday.

“By way of material, I have received nothing except the FAOS (Forensic Assessment Outpatient Services) report,” whose contents he found “troubling,” the Calgary Court of Justice judge said.

“These are charges that aren't before the court every day of the week,” Van Harten said.

“These are high-profile cases when they do arise, and a matter of great public interest.”

The judge said he will need to know “whether he presents a real danger to the public ... or whether, as he puts it in the report, `(he was) duped into what he did.'”

Hussein, 20, pleaded guilty in Calgary Court of Justice on Dec. 1 to a charge of facilitating a terrorist activity.

Brown, reading from a statement of agreed facts at the time, told Van Harten that following Hussein's arrest last June 15, police searched his home and vehicle. Among the items seized, Brown said, was a “notebook containing handwritten notes with step-bystep instructions for making an improvised explosive device.”

Brown said investigators then consulted with the RCMP explosive disposal unit and the trace evidence chemistry group of RCMP National Forensic Laboratory Services.

That consultation “determined that the handwritten instructions located in the accused's room appeared to be a viable and accurate means for the creation of a homemade explosive, as was the description in the instructions to fabricate a detonator,” Brown said.

The agreed facts, signed by Hussein and Hepner, also noted the offender “used his Telegram account to send an unknown user an ISIS video that explained how to make a bomb at home.”

“The user responded asking about the size of the explosion, and the accused said it was like a grenade. The instructions in the ISIS video matched the handwritten instructions that were seized from the accused's bedroom.”

Brown also told Van Harten that on May 14, Hussein “knowingly facilitated terrorist activity by posting an ISIS recruitment video to Tiktok.”

Among the comments Hussein's video generated was one user stating: “Beheading and killing infidel soldiers is permitted in combat. So is enslaving the kuffar (disbeliever) soldier women,” the prosecutor said.

An RCMP expert on extremism “determined that the video was produced by al-risalah Media, an extremist supporting media front,” Brown told court.

Hussein also spoke of targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community.

On June 1, he posted in a chat on Snapchat: “Tomorrow my mission begins. It's Pride month. I've been waiting,” Brown said.