B.C. man acquitted on terror charges

VANCOUVER • A British Columbia man accused of using his Facebook account to express support of “lone wolf ” terrorist attacks has been acquitted of all charges.

Othman Hamdan’s judgealone trial began in June, when he pleaded not guilty to encouraging the commission of murder, assault and mischief as well as inducing and instructing someone to carry out a terrorist act.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Butler announced his decision on Friday, and it was confirmed by the criminal registry Monday.

The alleged offences were related to 85 Facebook posts between September 2014 and July 2015, when Hamdan was arrested. He was working as a construction contractor in Fort St. John at the time.

Hamdan, 35, who described himself as a nonpractising Sunni Muslim, testified his posts highlighted government clashes against citizens who were “squashed” as they held peaceful protests during the Arab spring in the Middle East.

The trial heard his posts paid tribute to gains made by Islamic State militants with attacks in Canada and other Western countries.

Hamdan said he began posting comments on his Facebook profile and created some pages based initially on what he saw on social media, which played a big role in the series of demonstrations that swept through the Arab world.

“Lone wolves, we salute you,” read one post on March 3, 2015, as read in court by Crown counsel.

Another post in October 2014 calls Martin Couture-Rouleau, who rammed a car into Canadian soldiers in Quebec, “the real hero for hitting evil Canadian forces on their soil in retaliation for the Canadians supporting the Shiite gangs in Iraq.”

The post adds, “May Allah accept him,” which the Crown’s expert witness told the trial is a reference to the Muslim belief that only God can decide who is a legitimate martyr.