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| Great White North |
| Mohamed Hersi denies accusations that he tried to join Al-Shabab |
| 2014-05-08 |
| BRAMPTON, Ont. -- A Toronto man on trial for allegedly attempting to join Al-Shabab was questioned Tuesday about his relationship with two former classmates who left for Somalia in 2009 to take up arms with the terrorist group. Mohamed Hersi acknowledged knowing Mohamed Elmi Ibrahim, alias âCanlish,â from high school and the University of Toronto, and said he had visited the family home to pay his respects after the youth was killed in Mogadishu. He also confirmed he had known âCasanyoâ Abdurahman from Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute and his mosque, and said he accepted a Facebook friend requestfrom him despite suspecting he was at an Al-Shabab camp. âIn Toronto, when I knew these guys they were hard-working, studious, good to their mothers,â Mr. Hersi said. But he said he had not communicated with them since they departed Toronto and he denied any intention to follow in their footsteps. A 28-year-old former security guard, Mr. Hersi is the first person to be charged with attempting to leave Canada to join a terrorist group. A second charge alleges he counselled an undercover Toronto police officer to take part in terrorist activity â namely joining Al-Shabab. He has denied the allegations, saying he did not support Al-Shabab and had not planned on joining. When he was arrested at Torontoâs Pearson airport in March 2011, he was on his way to Cairo to study Arabic, he testified. As the Crown got its first chance to grill Mr. Hersi on the witness stand Tuesday, he struggled to explain why, despite being trained to respond to security threats, he had failed to report the undercover police officer sent to befriend him. Although the officer had confided that he was on his way to Somalia to join Al-Shabab, Mr. Hersi never turned him in or broke off their relationship. Instead, he gave the officer advice on how to travel to Somalia and buy guns, how much money to bring and how to avoid arousing suspicion. He also told the officer to read an article by pro-Al-Qaeda ideologue Anwar Awlaki, and suggested he might return to Canada to âtake care ofâ those who insulted the Muslim prophet Muhammad. âDonât be scared,â Mr. Hersi told him. Mr. Hersi said he warned the officer four or five times not to travel to Somalia or join Al-Shabab, but after realizing his âfriendâ was not going to change his mind, he instead gave him tips on avoiding getting caught. âI probably should have called, but he wasnât saying he wanted to do anything in Canada. I was like, out of sight, out of mind. In hindsight I probably should have reported him,â Mr. Hersi said. Crown lawyer Iona Jaffe also noted Mr. Hersi had told the undercover officer about the Saudi sheikh, Yusuf Al-Uyayri, whose writing encouraged Muslims to be able to swim and run long distances. Ms. Jaffe said the only writing by Sheikh Al-Uyayri that related to fitness was called âA Mujahedeenâs Fitness Training.â In the tract, Mr. Al-Uyayri, a former leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, called physical fitness âan essential asset to the mujahid, especially in the case of street-fighting.â |
| Posted by:Steve White |