Released IS supporter must wear GPS tracker

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This article was published 15/06/2015 (4000 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man who has publicly admitted being an Islamic State supporter had to agree to a lengthy series of conditions — including religious counselling and wearing a GPS tracker — to secure his release from jail.

Aaron Driver spent eight nights behind bars despite the fact he hasn’t been accused of any crime. His stay would have been longer if not for a bail order that is as unusual as this mysterious, high-profile case.

That has now triggered plenty of raised eyebrows in both the legal and political arenas.

Corey Shefman, president of the Manitoba Association of Rights and Liberties, called the latest developments “mind-boggling.”

“He hasn’t been charged with a crime, he hasn’t been convicted, and he hasn’t been accused of doing anything wrong. It is unprecedented and a violation of our most fundamental civil rights and liberties,” Shefman told the Free Press on Monday. “There is a criminal offence of counselling to commit a terrorist act. If they believe that, charge him.”

Driver, who uses the alias Harun Abdurahman, was arrested June 4 after police raided the two-storey house he was living at on Carlotta Crescent in Charleswood.

Federal justice officials have applied for a peace bond against Driver under section 810 of the Criminal Code. This would allow them to place certain restrictions on his activities and freedoms in the community for a set period of time.

Driver has not consented to the application at this time. But senior federal Crown attorney Ian Mahon consented to Driver’s release on bail last Friday once he agreed to abide by 25 different conditions. The case didn’t appear on the normal docket but was quietly brought forward before provincial court Judge Anne Krahn.

They include wearing an RCMP-installed electronic GPS monitor that will allow police to know his whereabouts at all times. Driver must also turn over his passports, is prohibited from owning any computers and is banned from owning any object with a logo or symbol of ISIS, ISIL or al-Qaida. He is also restricted from having contact with people from those terrorist groups.

Driver is also restricted from using any social media sites. He has returned to his home but must also abide by a daily curfew of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

The most unusual condition is one that orders Driver to participate in what’s described as “religious counselling.” No further details are provided on his court order.

“That’s probably one of the stranger conditions in the recognizance,” Mahon said Monday. He declined to provide further details, including what type of religion and whose idea it was.

“I can’t tell you the genesis of it,” he said. “I can’t answer that.”

Driver’s lawyer, Leonard Tailleur, did not return a message seeking further details on Monday. One of the key questions is why Driver wouldn’t consent to the peace bond application, which appears far less restrictive than the bail on which he’s now free in the community.

This could be a sign Driver plans to fight the peace bond application, perhaps even the legality of it, at a future hearing.

Any breaches of those conditions would allow police to rearrest Driver and hold him in custody indefinitely, as well as lay a Criminal Code offence of violating a bail order.

Shefman said he is specifically opposed to the GPS monitoring and religious counselling conditions — the latter of which may be the first in a Canadian court order.

“Do you want to live in a country where a judge can order you to be counselled by a religious leader?” he said Monday. “What’s happening to our freedoms when a court can order you to seek religious counselling?

Shefman said he is not in favour of Driver’s “abhorrent views,” but is commenting about the man’s “fundamental rights as a Canadian citizen.”

“If he’s done something wrong, he should be charged with a crime. But no matter what, as a Canadian citizen, he is entitled to due process and to the protection of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

When asked Monday if the government had any concerns about the case, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said “as the heads of our national security agencies and the minister have said before, the threat of jihadi terrorists is real.”

“The first duty of any government is to ensure the safety of its citizens,” said Jeremy Laurin. “We will continue to ensure that our police forces have the tools they need to protect Canadians against this evolving threat of terrorism.”

The federal Liberals declined to commen.

These types of peace bonds are more commonly used against high-risk sex offenders who have served their sentence and are set to be released from prison despite concerns they may reoffend. They are seen as a “last resort” for individuals police fear are likely to commit a crime.

In arguing for the peace bond, justice officials have alleged Driver may “participate in or contribute to, directly or indirectly, the activity of a terrorist group for the purpose of enhancing the ability of a terrorist group to facilitate or carry out a terrorist activity.”

No other information is included. Police are seeking a one-year peace bond, with the only stated condition being that Driver “keep the peace and be of general behaviour.”

Driver previously made headlines when he shared his radical support for IS in a February 2015 interview with the Toronto Star. He has had at least six Twitter accounts suspended and was allegedly plugged in to a pro-Islamic State network and in touch with other IS supporters around the world, some of whom have been arrested.

Bill C-51, which was passed in the House of Commons last month, makes promoting terrorist activities a Criminal Code offence, punishable by up to five years in prison. But to date, Driver hasn’t been charged with any specific offence.

The Toronto Star interview said Driver was born in Ontario to a Christian family steeped in military tradition, but neither his father, a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force in Alberta, nor his brother, know how to turn around the young man who is now living in Winnipeg and has become an unapologetic supporter of the IS terrorist group.

Driver, who agreed in the interview to be identified only by an online pseudonym, said all Muslims should emigrate to Syria and Iraq, where the Islamic State has declared a caliphate governed by Sharia law. He said he believed last fall’s attacks on Parliament Hill and in Quebec were “justified” retribution for Canadian military aggression against IS.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

— with files from Mia Rabson

Peace bond: typically a last resort

These types of peace bonds are more commonly used against high-risk sex offenders who have served every second of their sentence and are set to be released from prison despite concerns they may reoffend. They are seen as a “last resort” for individuals police fear are likely to commit a crime.

In arguing for the peace bond, justice officials allege: Driver may “participate in or contribute to, directly or indirectly, the activity of a terrorist group for the purpose of enhancing the ability of a terrorist group to facilitate or carry out a terrorist activity.”

No other information is included. Police are seeking a one-year peace bond, with the only condition being that Driver “keep the peace and be of general behaviour.” This type of generic wording would give police the power to arrest him for any type of wrongdoing, minor or major.

No direct threats on social media: researcher

Driver previously made headlines when he shared his radical support for IS in a February 2015 interview with the Toronto Star.

Amarnath Amarasingam, an Ontario-based researcher studying radicalization and foreign fighters at the University of Waterloo and Dalhousie University, said he has monitored Abdurahman’s Twitter account for months and has been in contact with Abdurahman’s father.

Abdurahman has had at least six Twitter accounts suspended, Amarasingam said, and it’s clear he was plugged in to a pro-Islamic State network, often using one of the terrorist group’s battle cries, “Baqiya,” which means “enduring” in Arabic. He was in touch with other IS supporters around the world, some of whom have been arrested.

“From what I could tell, he wasn’t really making threats to Canada in any real way; at least, I never saw any of those kinds of comments… but with Bill C-51, it is technically possible to be arrested or charged with the promotion of terrorism just by social-media activity,” Amarasingam told the Free Press last week.

“It’ll be interesting to see if they go that route with Harun, because he’ll literally be the first test case for this promotion-of-terrorism angle.”

Born to Christian family: report

Bill C-51, which was passed in the House of Commons last month, makes promoting terrorist activities a Criminal Code offence, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Amarasingam said the legislation is “a bit problematic” because of its broad interpretation of promoting terrorism.

“The amount of people that (Bill C-51) would round up… would be quite high. We’re following very young kids in Toronto, 13- and 14-year-old kids who are very pro-ISIS online. So I wouldn’t really want a 13- or 14-year-old kid facing legal action of some kind just for a tweet or a Facebook post. Going down that route opens some fairly scary doors, and I don’t know if that’s the wise thing to do.

“It’s much more productive, I think, to get the community involved and get the legislators and social workers and youth workers involved to try to talk to these kids and find a pro-social way to address their political and religious grievances than to simply throw them in jail or put them in a system where now they have a criminal record.”

The Toronto Star interview said Harun Abdurahman was born in Ontario to a Christian family steeped in military tradition, but neither his father, a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force in Alberta, nor his brother, know how to turn around the young man who is now living in Winnipeg and has become an unapologetic supporter of the IS terrorist group.

Abdurahman, who agreed in the interview to be identified only by an online pseudonym, said all Muslims should emigrate to Syria and Iraq, where the Islamic State has declared a caliphate governed by Sharia law.

He said he believed last fall’s attacks on Parliament Hill and in Quebec were “justified” retribution for Canadian military aggression against IS.

“I think a lot of Canadians need to wake up and understand that we’re doing this and worse to other people in other countries,” said Abdurahman.

www.mikeoncrime.com