Montreal woman faces terror charge
Cops say Diab carried gun parts to Lebanon
A Montreal woman arrested last year for allegedly trying to smuggle gun parts into Lebanon was charged Friday with terrorism by Canada’s federal police.
Mouna Diab, a 26-year-old from Laval who was part of a Muslim delegation tohérouxville during the 2007 debate on reasonable accommodation of immigrants, was acting on orders from Hezbollah, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alleged.
The Canadian government lists the Lebanon-based militia as a terrorist group.
Diab appeared in court in Montreal Friday morning. Reached at home, Diab would not talk to reporters.
Her lawyer, Pascal Lescarbeau, said he had no comment.
Diab was arrested May 19, 2011 at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport before departing for Beirut. Investigators allegedly found parts of an AR-15 assault rifle in her luggage.
According to the RCMP, she had also shipped gun parts separately, sometimes through friends travelling to Lebanon.
“The victims were unaware of the contents of the packages they were carrying for the accused,” a statement from the police force said. These people have not been charged with the same crime, an RCMP spokesperson noted.
The RCMP investigation into Diab goes back to February 2011, with the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), a squad of Mounties, Sûreté du Québec officers and Montreal police officers formed after the Sept. 11 attacks.
At the time of her arrest, the RCMP did not specify a recipient for the weapons, but now they allege she was acting for a “contact person in Lebanon who is associated with Hezbollah.”
According to section 83.2 of the Criminal Code, providing material to be used in terrorist activities carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.