Acquitted ISIS supporter fights to stay in Canada

Immigration and Refugee Board to determine if Jordanian will be deported

Days after being acquitted of terrorism charges, Othman Hamdan appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board on Tuesday to begin his fight to stay in Canada.

The Canada Border Services Agency is investigating whether Hamdan should be allowed to remain here considering Facebook posts supporting the Islamic State and an admission he was once involved in an international hashish smuggling ring.

A Jordanian citizen, Hamdan came to B.C. from the U.S. in 2002 and made a successful refugee claim based on his conversion to Christianity. He later rejected his new religion.

Canada Border Services official Randal Hyland told refugee board member Trent Cook that Hamdan, 35, is neither a Canadian citizen nor a permanent resident of Canada.

And he said the agency had grounds to believe Hamdan was inadmissible as a security risk as well because of his serious criminality.

Hyland asked at a detention hearing Tuesday that Hamdan remain incarcerated until a full admissibility hearing can be held before the refugee board. The detention hearing was adjourned until next week.

On Friday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Butler acquitted Hamdan on four terrorism charges stemming from dozens of Facebook comments he posted in 2014 and 2015 supporting ISIS and lone-wolf attacks in Canada, the U.S. and other countries.

Butler said Hamdan’s posts may be offensive to Canadians, but that doesn’t mean the Fort St. John man was encouraging or inciting acts of murder, assault and mischief as alleged by the Crown.

Despite Hamdan’s acquittal, he remains in jail. He was transferred to the custody of Canada Border Services on Friday afternoon.

His lawyer, Erica Olmstead, argued Tuesday against his continued detention, saying it was unfair to keep him in jail given the notguilty verdict in the criminal case.

She said if he is released into the community, he intends to stay at a shelter and apply for a work permit until he is “back on his feet.”

Olmstead won a ban on publication of any photo or image of Hamdan, who appeared in red prison garb escorted by two border agents.

After the proceedings, Hamdan threatened to sue a Postmedia reporter “if you publish any photo.”

Hyland pointed to some of the comments Hamdan made on Facebook that first caught the eye of RCMP investigators in the fall of 2014.

One comment appeared to be suggesting a dam in Revelstoke and a bridge in Ontario would be easy targets for terrorists.

“This dam supplies most of the west coast of the North American continent with power. The number of police officers in this town is between 20-30. Closest military base is 200 kilometres. Security is weak,” Hamdan wrote in September 2014.

“There is a bridge — Nipigon River Bridge near a village Nipigon, Ont. It crosses a river and connects Eastern Canada with its West and it also carries a railroad. This bridge divides the country in the middle and its repair will take years. Security protection … zero.”

In another post, Hamdan appeared to be inciting violence through lone-wolf attacks, Hyland said.

On Feb. 25, 2015, Hamdan posted an ISIS message on his Defeat of the Alliance Facebook page, which said: “Our advice to supporters in the #US … carry your actions there … swiftly lone wolves activate all across #USA.”

Hyland noted the burden of proof to determine whether someone is inadmissible to remain in Canada is lower than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard used by criminal courts.

He said Canada Border Services wants to review Butler’s written reasons, expected to be released later this week, as part of its ongoing investigation into Hamdan. And the agency doesn’t yet know if federal prosecutors intend to appeal the verdict.

In other Facebook posts, Hamden praised Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who attacked Parliament Hill on Oct. 22, 2014, as well as Martin Couture-Rouleau, who drove a car into two Canadian soldiers in Quebec two days before.

The same day as the Ottawa attack, Hamdan wrote “a Muslim brother is martyred by the Canadian police after he killed a Canadian Soldier in retaliation to Canada’s crimes in Iraq.”

He said Canada is “terrified.” Butler noted “these posts are difficult for the average Canadian to read or understand. This is because Mr. Hamdan expresses support for the actions of lone-wolf terrorists and the reasons he gives for saluting these actions defy logic.”

“The suggestion that it is rational or acceptable for someone to kill unsuspecting non-combatants in a civil setting is repugnant. However, the posts do not contain statements that could be considered active inducements and encouragement for readers to go and commit similar offences.”

Mr. Hamdan expresses support for the actions of lone wolf terrorists and the reasons he gives for saluting these actions defy logic.