Man with alleged ties to terrorist activity behind bars, but not charged

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This article was published 06/06/2015 (4060 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man remained behind bars Friday, even though he hadn’t been charged with a crime, but police allege he has ties to terrorist activity.

Aaron Daniel Driver, who also goes by the alias Harun Abdurahman and has proclaimed his support for the Islamic State, is at the centre of a unique investigation involving national security.

The 23-year-old was arrested Thursday after police raided a two-storey house in Charleswood where he was living.

Court documents show federal justice officials applied for a peace bond against Driver under section 810 of the Criminal Code. The application is commonly used against high-risk sex offenders who have finished their prison sentence and are set to be released despite concerns they may reoffend.

They are seen as a last resort to control individuals who aren’t under an existing court order and don’t face new charges but are deemed likely to commit a crime.

In the brief wording on the application, members of the RCMP national security enforcement section allege Driver “will 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. A copy of the information to obtain the search warrant used against Driver was sealed.

Police are seeking a one-year peace bond, with the only condition being that Driver “keep the peace and be of general behaviour.” Police would have the power to arrest him for any type of perceived wrongdoing.

Driver has the option of either consenting to the application or fighting it. His case appeared in court Friday morning but was adjourned in less than three minutes. He remains behind bars pending a resolution, and his next court appearance is set for Tuesday.

“This will take a little bit longer than the usual bail sitting,” provincial court Judge Ryan Rolston told Driver.

When asked if he understood the situation, Driver quietly said “yes.”

Crown attorney Ian Mahon said a special court sitting will likely have to be arranged. Defence lawyer Cam Pauls appeared on Driver’s behalf but said he was waiting to be officially retained. He said the next several days will be filled with “disclosure and discussions” with the Crown.

RCMP have said little about their investigation into Driver, who previously made headlines when he shared his support for IS in a February 2015 interview with the Toronto Star. Driver mentioned last fall’s attack on Parliament Hill in which Michael Zehaf Bibeau killed an unarmed soldier, only to be shot dead moments later.

“I was listening to it very carefully. In some ways I was pretty excited because there was retaliation. It was shortly after Canada announced it was sending F-18s over to Iraq. I saw that as direct retaliation for Canada’s aggression against Muslims in another country,” Driver told the Star.

Identification and canine units were at the Carlotta Crescent home Thursday for several hours. Traffic in the area was temporarily blocked off, and officers could be seen removing what appeared to be two computers.

Neighbours told the Free Press they’d noticed undercover officers in unmarked vehicles near the house for long periods of time in recent weeks, and the homeowner may have been renting a room to a young man.

Amarnath Amarasingam, an Ontario researcher studying radicalization and foreign fighters at the University of Waterloo and Dalhousie University, told the Free Press he has monitored Driver’s Twitter account for months and has been in contact with the man’s father.

Driver 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.

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

A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney told the Free Press Friday this case shows the need for vigilance and the bill enhances the ability of police to detain suspected terrorists before they can harm Canadians.

“As the heads of our national security agencies and the minister have said before, the threat of jihadi terrorists is real,” the spokesman said in a statement. “We will continue to ensure that our police forces have the tools they need to protect Canadians against this evolving threat of terrorism.”

The Toronto Star article 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 moved to Winnipeg and has become a supporter of the Islamic State.

 

— with files from Katie May, Ashley Prest, Nick Martin

www.mikeoncrime.com