Montreal’s homicide rate going down — no murders yet in 2016
Gatineau man already facing charges of harassment and threatening to kill
A former Montreal man is facing a charge of attempting to leave Canada to participate in the activities of a terrorist group.
Ismael Habib, 28, of Gatineau, made a brief appearance Friday at the Montreal courthouse on the accusation, which is the latest in a string of charges against him in recent weeks.
On Thursday, Habib appeared briefly in court in Montreal on a charge of giving false information to obtain a passport.
At the end of February, Gatineau police arrested Habib after receiving a domestic violence complaint against him. He is charged with harassing a girlfriend in Gatineau, threatening to kill her with a bomb and having fake identification and a machine that creates credit cards.
A Gatineau judge is expected to decide next week whether to grant Habib bail on the charges of harassment, uttering threats and attempting to use someone else’s identity, which are separate from the terrorism charges.
But first, he will appear again at the Montreal courthouse Monday, when a date will be set for a bail hearing. Crown Prosecutor Lynne Décarie said she would oppose bail.
“It will be up to a judge to decide, but the Crown doesn’t believe he should get bail,” she said.
The RCMP detained Habib after his arrest in Gatineau because they had a credible belief he was about to commit a terrorist act. It is believed Habib was attempting to travel to Turkey to join ISIL.
Following Thursday’s hearing, Décarie said the Crown was also seeking a peace bond against Habib.
Prosecutors have sought the measure — which restricts an individual’s activities and keeps him or her under close watch by authorities — against several Canadians in the past year.
Décarie said Friday that prosecutors and police were currently sift-
ing through a “lot of evidence that came out very recently” to determine what is admissible in court.
“It’s in constant evolution, the investigation is always ongoing, and all this had to be analyzed in a short period of time,” Décarie told reporters.
The charge of leaving the country
to participate in terrorist activity was introduced into the Criminal Code in 2013 and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars.
Lawyers for Habib did not comment on the case.