War crimes charges against Toronto ISIS suspect are a first for Canada
Global News
Former Amazon driver Ahmed Eldidi has been charged with four war crimes, including torture, mutilation and murder.
A Toronto delivery driver accused of dismembering a prisoner in Iraq almost a decade ago has become the first suspected ISIS member to face war crimes charges in Canada, experts said.
An indictment filed in the Ontario court has charged Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi with four counts, including torture and murder, under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
The alleged incidents occurred during the height of ISIS in 2014 and 2015. Three years later, Eldidi flew to Toronto and made a refugee claim that was accepted. He is now a Canadian citizen.
Global News revealed last summer that Eldidi, a former Amazon driver originally from Egypt, was allegedly seen in a 2015 ISIS video, using a sword to chop the hands and feet off a prisoner.
“I can confirm that Ahmed Eldidi is charged with offences under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act,” Nathalie Houle, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada spokesperson, said Monday.
The charges are a first for Canada, said Prof. Michael Nesbitt, associate dean of research at the University of Calgary law school, and a leading expert on national security law.
“It’s kind of a big deal,” he said.
As far as he is aware, Canada’s prosecution service has never before used the war crimes act against a suspect for alleged crimes committed in the territory of the Islamic State, he said.
Hundreds of Syrian Canadians gathered in front of Calgary city hall on Sunday, celebrating what they say is a great day for Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Ottawa is urging Canadians to avoid all travel to Syria and to consider leaving the country if it's safe to do so.
Syrians poured into streets echoing with celebratory gunfire on Sunday after a stunning rebel advance reached the capital, putting an end to the Assad family's iron rule.
For years, patients in the U.S. health care system have grown frustrated with a bureaucracy they don’t understand.
South Korea's embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol avoided an opposition-led attempt to impeach him over his short-lived imposition of martial law.
France's iconic Notre Dame Cathedral is formally reopening its doors on Saturday for the first time since a devastating fire nearly destroyed the 861-year-old landmark in 2019.
The leader of President Yoon Suk Yeol's party stressed the need to suspend Yoon’s presidential duties and power swiftly, saying he poses a 'significant risk of extreme actions.'
Bird flu has infected more than 500 dairy herds in top milk state California, and more than 700 nationwide since March, raising concerns of the impact to the milk supply.
The WHO experts are on their way to Panzi, in the southwestern Kwango province, where they'll deliver essential medicines and diagnostic kits to help analyse the cause.
Three mountain climbers — two from the U.S. and one from Canada — missing for five days on Aoraki, New Zealand’s tallest peak, are believed to have died in a fall.
Macron came out fighting a day after a historic no-confidence vote prompted by budget disputes at the National Assembly left France without a functioning government.