Plotter seeks escorted leave from prison

COWANSVILLE, QUE. • Almost 13 years ago, Shareef Abdelhaleem was arrested in one of Canada’s most shocking police operations — a national security sweep nabbing him as one of the architects of spectacular terror plots to detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto and wage a bloody siege on Parliament Hill.

The accused men became known as the Toronto 18.

Early court appearances for Abdelhaleem and his fellow conspirators in Brampton, Ont., were a frenzy of rooftop snipers, machine-gun toting police officers and surging crowds.

on Thursday morning, Abdelhaleem sat quiet and bashful in a Quebec prison.

Beefy with his head shaved and a dark goatee, wearing a plain blue T-shirt and jeans, Abdelhaleem smiled and nodded amicably to anyone who caught his eye, but his face turned serious, his eyebrows arched and forehead furrowed when he was asked a blunt question.

“Are you a terrorist?” For the first time since that high-profile arrest in June 2006, Abdelhaleem is hoping to slip from behind bars on an escorted temporary leave; just for a few hours, accompanied by a guard, to attend a meeting on deradicalization.

This was his first appearance before the Parole Board of Canada, despite being eligible for parole on his life sentence since 2016.

Abdelhaleem answered that awkward question as plainly as it was asked by parole board member Veronique Buisson.

“Not any more,” he said. After a pause, he elaborated.

“I’ve adjusted my way of thinking,” he said. “It was — not to use foul language, but — it was a shitty thing to do… It was the wrong thing to do, I realize that.”

Abdelhaleem is not an ordinary prisoner.

The parole board recognizes that, so does the prison that holds him, as do other inmates. He has been assaulted a few times and, he said, still gets threats from fellow prisoners.

His parole officer, Patsy Napoléon, told the board Abdelhaleem’s progress has been stymied because Correctional Service Canada’s programming doesn’t apply to criminals fuelled by violent extremism.

Nevertheless, she said, Abdelhaleem’s last psychological review deemed his risk of re-offending to be low.

“I’ve never considered myself a religious person. It was more political than religious,” he said of his motivation. “Back then, it wasn’t about bombing Canada, it was about stopping the war… I believed at the time that Canada’s involvement in the war would be withdrawn (if the attacks happened).

“Thank God the police interfered and nobody did die.”

He said recent events have enhanced his pain, mentioning this month’s massacre at mosques in New Zealand and the 2017 attack in Quebec City.

The parole board reserved its decision.