National Post (National Edition)
Court orders extradition of Edmonton man
Allegedly helped kill five U.S. soldiers in Iraq
EDMONTON • Alberta’s highest court has upheld a decision to extradite an Edmonton man to the United States to face charges he helped kill five U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
Faruq Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa is accused of murder and terrorism stemming from the 2009 suicide bombing in his native Iraq.
In May, Mr. ‘Isa appealed a Court of Queen’s Bench order that found sufficient evidence to extradite him. He also asked for a judicial review of a decision by Canada’s Department of Justice to surrender him to the United States.
In a decision released Monday, the Court of Appeal of Alberta dismissed both the appeal and the judicial review and ruled that Mr. ‘Isa should be extradited south of the border to face trial in New York.
Shortly after the decision, defence lawyer Nathan Whitling said he hadn’t yet spoken to his client, but “fully expected” Mr. ‘Isa will now attempt to have his case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.
The 41-year-old, who remains in custody, is accused of murder and supporting a terrorist group that took part in a suicide bombing in his native Iraq. Five U.S. soldiers were killed when a truck filled with explosives was detonated at a military checkpoint in 2009.
U.S. prosecutors allege that, via email and phone calls from his Edmonton apartment, Mr. ‘Isa helped four Tunisian men enter Iraq to kill the American soldiers.
The federal Department of Justice granted a U.S. extradition request last summer after receiving assurances that Mr. ‘Isa wouldn’t face the death penalty. After that, Alberta’s appeal court accepted that Mr. ‘Isa might face harsher penalties in the United States than he would in Canada.
“In our view, a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, while not a sentence available in Canada for the charges upon which the minister has ordered the appellant’s surrender, would not sufficiently shock the conscience of Canadians such that his surrender to face those charges would be unjust or oppressive,” the appeal court concluded.
In his appeal, defence lawyers argued that allegations against their client came from three people, including his brother, who were tortured by investigators in Iraq.
Previously, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Adam Germain set aside those claims of torture due to insufficient evidence. However, the appeal court decided those allegations had an “air of reality,” but did not conclude that “a miscarriage of justice or a substantial wrong” had been committed.
That, Mr. Whitling said, “raises an important issue” that the Supreme Court of Canada should consider.
The appeal court said Mr. ‘Isa had access to a lawyer after his arrest, was aware of his right to silence and was not intimidated by investigators.
“While he professed to be afraid, it is obvious from the context of the interviews that his fear was not generated by the interviews or the interviewers, but by his realization of the information they had about him,” the judges wrote.
Mr. ‘Isa originally faced two U.S. charges: facilitating terrorist activities and conspiracy to commit murder.
Judge Germain ruled in 2012 that there was enough evidence to extradite him on those offences.
The defence lawyer told the appeal court that five charges of aiding murder were “introduced at the last minute, through the back door.” The extradition judge ordered Mr. ‘Isa’s committal on the original two charges, yet then-Justice Minister Rob Nicholson ordered that Mr. ‘Isa be extradited on all seven.
That error, Mr. Whitling said Monday, also deserves to be scrutinized by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Mr. ‘Isa, who also goes by
His fear was not generated by the interviews or the interviewers
the name Sayfildin Tahir Sharif, is an ethnic Kurd who was born in Iraq but moved to Toronto as a refugee in 1993 and became a Canadian citizen four years later.
RCMP arrested him at his Edmonton apartment in January 2011 after a lengthy investigation by U.S. authorities. He has been in the Edmonton Remand Centre ever since.
According to the American indictment, Mr. ‘Isa “did knowingly and intentionally and with malice aforethought conspire to kill one or more nationals of the United States” between January 2008 and January 2011.