‘ Radicalization’ comment hits home
Mystery surrounds activities of Canadians
Last week, Canada’s deputy minister of public safety told a symposium that “one of the most challenging elements” in countering violent extremism is prevention because radicalization in Canada has tended to involve “young, well- educated, middle- class men” from diverse backgrounds.
That point couldn’t have been underscored more clearly than this week, when the identities emerged of two young Canadians suspected of being involved in a deadly terrorist attack at a gas plant in Algeria.
Ali Medlej and Xristos Katsiroubas, whose identities were first revealed by the CBC, were raised in the middle- class southern Ontario community of London, and attended London South Collegiate Institute, a public high school distinguished for its academic rigour, arts programs and Latin courses.
How this pair, just a few years later, ended up dead in the remote Algerian desert, suspected of taking part in a hostagetaking that would claims dozens of lives, remains the
subject of much speculation — in part because of a wall of silence from the federal government, RCMP and CSIS about the case.
The mystery has deepened further with the revelation that at least one other classmate accompanied the pair to Algeria. The CBC first reported that Aaron Yoon travelled overseas with the pair but ended up detained in jail before the attack at the In Amenas gas plant in January.
A foreign affairs official would only say Wednesday: “We are aware of a Canadian who has been detained abroad.”
However, Yoon’s brother said that he doubts the truth of reports of his brother’s arrest, and said that he had spoken to Yoon on Sunday.
“Obviously, anything is possible, but there’s no evidence to suggest that he’s in trouble or in jail or arrested,” Yoon’s brother, who asked not to be named, told Postmedia News. Yoon, a Korean- Canadian, was raised Catholic but converted to Islam in high school, his brother told Global News. The conversion was a “positive thing” and made him a “better person, much more respectful,” he said.