Habib says he only told police the story they wanted to hear
Suspect testifies he was desperate to get to Syria to save his family from terrorists
When he told an undercover RCMP officer he wanted to head to Syria and fight for ISIL, Ismaël Habib claims he was only telling the agent what he wanted to hear.
The videotaped meeting with the officer, whom Habib believed to be a crime boss able to smuggle him out of Canada, came after months of Habib being led through a series of elaborate scenarios by undercover agents.
The police sting, commonly called a Mr. Big technique, was an attempt to determine whether Habib was trying to join a terrorist group abroad.
During the meeting, held on Feb. 25, 2016, the fictitious boss wanted to know if Habib was the right guy to help one of his clients get to Syria.
“I had to get into the character,” Habib testified during his trial on Friday. “This was my last chance — if I missed it, there were no other options. I had to show him I was the real deal.”
On trial accused of attempting to leave the country to participate in terrorist activities and of providing false information to obtain a passport, Habib, 29, maintains his only intention was getting to Syria or Turkey to find his wife and children. He says he feared they had fallen under the control of a terrorist group.
Asked by his defence lawyer, Charles Montpetit, why he told the officer certain things — particularly a statement about being ready to die for ISIL — Habib replied, “I told him that so he would think I was the right guy for the job.”
“But I don’t believe in that,” Habib said.
“Were you ready to join ISIL if it helped you get to your wife and children?” Montpetit asked.
Habib hesitated before answering: “If I had no other choice, I would have.”
“Would you have participated in terrorist activities?”
“I never imagined it would get to that point,” Habib said.
During her brief cross-examination of Habib on Friday, Crown prosecutor Lyne Décarie questioned him about three other women he met via online dating sites while being married.
Habib later married a second woman from Gatineau — who testified he threatened to blow up her car if she told police about his travel plans, during the same time he says he was desperate to rejoin his first wife overseas.
In a series of pointed questions, Décarie pointed out that, despite Habib’s lengthy testimony about fearing for his family’s safety abroad, he rarely brought it up with undercover officers during the operation, even though he had told the court how comfortable and at ease he felt around them.
Décarie also pressed Habib about a 2012 trip he made to a Terrebonne gun range, why he had a fake ID on him when he was arrested and why, despite not having a university degree, he had accumulated $70,000 in unpaid student loans and bursaries.
Habib’s trial, which started in late November, is scheduled to return to court in early May for closing arguments.
This was my last chance — if I missed it, there were no other options. I had to show him I was the real deal.