Judge grants more freedom to repatriated Canadian who married notorious ISIS fighter
CBC
The Ontario Court of Justice has granted more freedom to a Canadian woman repatriated in April from northeastern Syria who was married to a notorious ISIS militant.
Dure Ahmed, who is now living in the Toronto area, was married to El Shafee Elsheikh, a member of an ISIS militant group known to its hostages as "the Beatles" because of their British accents.
Elsheikh is serving multiple life sentences in an American supermax prison for his role in a hostage-taking scheme that led to the deaths of eight American, British and Japanese citizens.
Justice Reginald Alexander Cornelius ordered Ahmed on Thursday to enter into a year-long terrorism peace bond that compels her to abide by more than a dozen conditions.
Ahmed will no longer be under house arrest but will have to abide by a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. She must also wear a GPS tracking device.
"Based on Ms. Ahmed's history, starting with her 2010 marriage to a top ranking ISIS member, her time in the detention camps, there exists a reasonable basis to fear that she may become involved in or aid a terrorist organization by indoctrinating, counselling or recruiting others to commit or participate in terrorist offences," said Justice Cornelius.
The RCMP arrested Ahmed in April at the airport in Montreal when she touched down on Canadian soil after spending more than eight years in Syria, most of them in ISIS territory.
Her repatriation was part of a deal the government struck in a Federal Court case to bring 19 women and children home from detention camps in northeastern Syria.
Ahmed was released from custody under strict initial conditions that prevented her from leaving her residence except in limited circumstances. Ahmed is not facing any terrorism-related offences, unlike some of the other repatriated women.
While issuing the peace bond at a courthouse in Brampton, Ont., the judge said the Public Prosecution Service of Canada had "more than sufficient basis" to fear that Ahmed could participate in terrorist activity on Canadian soil.
"She has shown the ability to conceal her movement," said Justice Cornelius. "She's been exposed to high-ranking ISIS members, she has been exposed to ISIS ideology. And there is information that suggests she has publicly extolled the virtues of ISIS and its ideology."
Cornelius approved all of the conditions that were laid out in a joint application submitted Monday by the Crown and Ahmed's lawyer.
The Crown described the proposed peace bond conditions on Monday as giving "slightly more freedom under some safe checks" to Ahmed to "assist" in her "re-integration into Canadian society." The Crown said the conditions "still address legitimate" fears she could commit terrorism offences in Canada.
Yoav Niv, Ahmed's lawyer, told CBC News his client made no admission of criminal liability in court.
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