Suspect ordered to wear ankle bracelet
Banned from communicating with Syria
A 22-year-old former kick-boxer suspected by police of posing a terrorism threat must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and refrain from communicating with anyone in Syria under conditions imposed by a court Friday.
During a brief appearance before Quebec Court Judge Pierre Labelle, Merouane Ghalmi of Pierrefonds accepted a number of restrictions limiting his actions and movement.
Federal prosecutor Lyne Décarie told reporters a peace bond imposing the restrictions was sought because “the RCMP had reasonable grounds to fear the man would commit a terrorism offence.”
Because Ghalmi agreed to sign the document, no evidence was presented in court, and Décarie said she could not divulge the reasons behind the police fears.
Among the conditions of the peace bond, Ghalmi is forbidden from “communicating via social networks with any person in Syria or any person who has ties to a terrorist group,” Décarie said.
He has to surrender his passport and agree not to apply for another one from Canada or any other country. He must wear a GPS monitoring device at all times, and he cannot leave Quebec.
Ghalmi is also ordered not to possess a cellphone, and he must provide the RCMP’s Integrated
Ghalmi has not been charged with any criminal offence.
National Security Enforcement Teams access to his computer and any other electronic devices.
He is forbidden from attempting to access, online or elsewhere, terrorist material “or any material that promotes violence or promotes radical or extremist ideas for political, religious or ideological purposes.” Another condition forbids any contact with a terrorist group or with a person with ties to a terrorist group.
He is specifically forbidden from contacting someone named Daniel Minta Darko, although there is no indication where he resides. Neither Ghalmi nor his lawyer commented after leaving the courtroom. Ghalmi has not been charged with any criminal offence. The peace bond is a mechanism in the Criminal Code providing for protection from someone who it is feared will commit a crime. In Ghalmi’s case, the bond is in force for 12 months, the maximum period under the law.
“This is a preventive measure,” Décarie said.
Once a promising amateur kickboxer, Ghalmi said he wanted to focus on school when he abruptly ended his career in 2012, a promoter told The Canadian Press. He had fought with Montreal’s Thai Long gym, which listed his fighting weight at 140 pounds.
Police initially sought the peace bond last month. When the case was postponed, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson told legislators it was an example of the legal hurdles police face addressing terror threats.
“We brought him into court and it was dismissed, put off for a month. In this environment, with the framework that I am managing, thinking that we are going to mitigate the threat that we say this individual poses by having him subject to a peace bond, (then) we don’t have that peace bond,” Paulson told a House of Commons committee on March 6.