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The Calgary man who facilitated terrorist activities through online postings — which included targeting the city’s Pride activities — was handed a six-year prison term Friday.
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With credit for time on remand, Zakarya Rida Hussein will have serve another four years and 45 days, and won’t be eligible for parole until he’s served at least half that time, Justice Harry Van Harten ordered.
The Calgary Court of Justice judge accepted a joint submission from Crown prosecutor Domenic Puglia and defence counsel Alain Hepner for that sentence.
Puglia said there were multiple aggravating factors to justify a significant penitentiary term, including the fact Hussein, 21, targeted the city’s LGBTQ+ community when he wrote in a June 1, 2023, Snapchat post: “Tomorrow my mission begins. It’s Pride month. I’ve been waiting.”
The prosecutor also noted Hussein was found in possession of written instructions on how to make a bomb and a pre-sentence report suggested he still wasn’t aware of the impact of his crime.
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“He states … I didn’t harm anyone,” Puglia told Van Harten.
“He actively did harm people and although the bomb didn’t go off … that doesn’t mean there wasn’t harm.”
Puglia said a six-year sentence would recognize the gravity of Hussein’s behaviour.
“This is a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the offence and society’s condemnation of terrorism.”
Despite the comments in the pre-sentence report, Hepner said his client was remorseful for his conduct and now understand he was “brainwashed” by radical influences on social media.
“The guilty plea … is a sign of remorse. He does have insight into what has occurred. His family was shocked and disturbed,” Hepner said.
“He was completely, in my view, radicalized at this point … in his words, brainwashed.”
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Hussein also addressed court, reading in a prepared statement.
“I was immature, naive and impressed by my peers when I got involved in the horrific black hole where my actions speak of radicalization,” he said.
Hussein pleaded guilty last Dec. 1, to facilitating a terrorist activity.
According to agreed facts read in by co-prosecutor Kent Brown at that time, Hussein engaged in online discussions about terrorist activities in the months leading up to his June 15, 2023, arrest and a search of his home and vehicle.
Among the items seized, Brown said, was a “notebook containing handwritten notes with step-by-step instructions for making an improvised explosive device.”
A consultation with experts “determined that the handwritten instructions located in the accused’s room appeared to be a viable and accurate means for the creation of a homemade explosive.”
On May 14, 2023, Hussein “knowingly facilitated a terrorist activity by posting an ISIS recruitment video to TikTok,” Brown said.
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