Fourth man arrested in Canadian terror probe re-arrested after being bailed

From The Ottawa Citizen

Fourth man arrested in terror probe re-arrested after granted bail

Justice of peace grants bail to suspect; police re-arrest man minutes later

By Chris Cobb, The Ottawa Citizen August 29, 2010
Awso Peshdary appeared in court on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010. Ottawa police charged him with assault and uttering a threat.  Minutes after he was granted bail by a justice of the peace, police arrested him and laid a new threat charge against him.
More Images »

Awso Peshdary appeared in court on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010. Ottawa police charged him with assault and uttering a threat. Minutes after he was granted bail by a justice of the peace, police arrested him and laid a new threat charge against him.

Photograph by: Illustration by Greg Banning, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — The investigation into Ottawa’s alleged terror cell took a bizarre twist Saturday when a 20-year-old man arrested early Friday by the RCMP appeared in court on two unrelated charges.

Awso Peshdary was released by the RCMP Friday evening after what sources say was a six-hour “interview” at Ottawa police headquarters on Elgin Street.

He was then handed over to Ottawa police who immediately charged him on one count of assault and another of uttering a threat.

The slightly-built bearded man, dressed in an open-neck pale yellow shirt, was granted bail by Justice of the Peace Ray Switzer but re-arrested again barely 10 minutes later in the Ottawa courthouse cells. Peshdary will appear in court again today on a new threat charge and his lawyer Richard Morris said he will reapply for bail.

A police spokesman said the investigation is ongoing and evidence had emerged that led to the new charge.

Saturday’s bail hearing was subject to a publication ban, meaning that news media cannot publish any details of what was said inside the courtroom.

Although it was widely reported Friday that the RCMP had arrested a fourth Canadian suspect as part of its so-called Project Samossa, the Mounties did not name the suspect and still have not.

Peshdary was first arrested in the Hunt Club area at 7.30 a.m. Friday when heavily-armed police and several police vehicles converged on his Honda car which was badly damaged in the arrest.

According to witnesses, at least 10 police officers, some with rifles, surrounded the car before the suspect, dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans, slowly emerged and was taken to a nearby police cruiser where he was searched and handcuffed.

Peshdary was driven to the Elgin Street police headquarters where RCMP officers questioned him throughout the day Friday before releasing him without charge to the Ottawa force.

Morris said he was first contacted to represent Peshdary at 8 p.m. on Friday. He declined to discuss anything related to his initial arrest or release by the RCMP.

Three alleged terrorists — all Canadian citizens and two from Ottawa — were arrested earlier last week and remain in custody.

The two Ottawa suspects — Hiva Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26 — appeared in court Thursday and Khurram Syed Sher, 28, a Montreal-born pathologist living in London, Ont. made a brief appearance Friday.

Ahmed works as an X-ray technician at the Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital

Together, the suspects face a variety of terrorism charges under the Criminal Code, including conspiring with at least three others — James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta — and other “persons unknown,” who have lived in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan, to facilitate “terrorist activity” between February 2008 and Aug. 24.

Hiva Alizadeh, who lives in a Woodridge Crescent apartment in Bayshore, faces a separate charge of making or having an explosive substance — which can include IED components — in his possession with the intent to endanger life or cause serious damage.

Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Mamosta, all non-Canadians, are not in Canada and have not been charged. It isn’t known if Alizadeh is related to the Ottawa suspect.

Police allege that the three Canadians charges were part of a local terrorist cell with links to international terrorist groups.

RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault, head of criminal operations for the capital region hinted that international efforts are underway to arrest them.

“This group posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of National Capital Region and Canada’s national security,” Therriault told an Ottawa news conference Thursday.

Project Samossa, which employed about 100 officers from several forces for the past year, was apparently forced to move on the suspects this week when police learned financial support was about to be transferred from Canada for weapons to attack western coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior CSIS counter-terrorism agent and one-time RCMP security service officer, said a source close to the investigation claims that alleged ringleader Hiva Alizadeh, 30, used Ottawa Public Library computers to communicate with other members of the Ottawa-based cell.

“He was trying to avoid detection and surveillance,” Juneau-Katsuya said. “They wanted to hit Parliament Hill and there was discussion of going against public transportation in Montreal because of the guys had studied there and knew the system.”

Montreal transportation officials say police have assured them that the city’s system was not a target.

Juneau-Katsuya said Internet messages between the men tripped computer “sniffers” at Ottawa’s Communication’s Security Establishment (CSE), the government’s Heron Road-based electronic spy agency that intercepts the phone calls and e-mails.

“One of the (CSE) filters picked up their chat,” said Juneau-Katsuya. “The way the system is established, we’ve got red flags everywhere and you can trip one of those flags anytime. If you’re travelling to Pakistan, that’s a red flag. If you’re going on certain websites, that’s another red flag and if you use certain key words in e-mail. When you’ve got enough red flags, then you become a person of interest. My understanding is they were caught from the Internet.”

Canadian Muslims are deeply concerned and disturbed about the arrests, the Canadian Islamic Congress president Wahida Valiante said late Saturday.

“Canadian Muslims are loyal citizens of Canada; they are law-abiding citizens, busy with their everyday lives and are contributing members to the Canadian society,” she said.

“They are well aware of their responsibility to uphold the laws of Canada and to act in ways that safeguard the security and well-being of all,” added Valiante. “However, their concern is how these arrests would be managed in Canada and what kind of impact the media reports will have on Canadian citizens of Muslim faith and other Canadians”.

She urged her fellow Muslims to “remain calm and ask them not to feel guilty-by-association for something what they did not do, and would never think of doing.”

With files from Ian MacLeod
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Update: Police ‘piling on’ charges against terror suspect.

4 Replies to “Fourth man arrested in Canadian terror probe re-arrested after being bailed”

  1. It’s just the tip of the Iceberg I hope they keep digging and arrest more of this terrorist vermin, who have disgraced their former country, their religion, and their families, and spat upon the goodness and compassion granted to them by Canada.

  2. Unfortunately, Big Frank we are a minority. Canada must be hit and hit hard several times until the typical Canadian wants to wake up.

  3. One of the major hurdles concerning terrorism for Canadians comes directly from Islamists who forward the false argument of a backlash. Strategically, they work diligently to instill the idea within the Muslim community that Canadian society is at odds with all Muslims and the indictment of any terror suspect is a slight against the whole community.

    This propaganda tool is highly effective. Presenting Canada as an intolerant nation, a bigoted one at war with all Muslims, serves as a useful recruiting technique by Muslim Brotherhood front organizations who seize the opportunity to invite new members into the fold. Create the chasm, propagate the falsity of victimhood, then fight in defense of an Islam under “siege”.

    No we don’t need to be hit hard; we need to understand that jihad is multi-faceted, expose the movement that supports it and the kitman they use to enable it, support law enforcement agencies trying to prevent terror and insist that governments work to do the primary thing they were elected to do: uphold the safety and security of Canadian citizens.

  4. Grace – I agree with you 100% BUt the typical Canadian male is more concerned about 1) the BIlderbergs who financed 9/11 and other conspiracies 2) downloading MILF porn 3) knowing the latest software Supermario XXL videos 4) becoming a lawyerso he can sue the Govt on behalf of the muslims – and the typical Canadian female is more concerned aboput 1) marrying a rich lawyer and divorcing him 2) what colour her toenails and purse are this week 3) smoking and 4) zodiac and 5) caring for her pet cat.

    So we have alot of work to do – an this is 9 years after 9/11 and 16,000 muslim attacks.

    I still say that only 2 things change people: money and violence and we will need a lot of violence to change people’s attitudes towards Islam. Typical Canadian dunce still views Middle East as Jew vs. Arabs