OTTAWA — Conservative MPs say the government should be going after a Canadian who told a New York Times podcast that he shot people in the head as an executioner for Islamic State militants in Syria.

The man, who used the name Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi, is now reported to be living in Toronto.

In question period on Friday, Conservatives demanded government action, but Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was cautious, saying he couldn't comment because of security concerns.

"This individual is speaking freely to the media," said Conservative House leader Candice Bergen. "The government has got to know where he is." </s> OTTAWA—Conservative MPs are calling for action against a Canadian-born, self-described terror recruit reportedly living in Toronto, but Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he can’t comment on the case for security reasons.

A Canadian who calls himself Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi appeared on a recent New York Times podcast, describing how he executed people while working with Daesh (also known as Islamic State or ISIS) militants in Syria.

The matter arose in question period in the Commons, with Conservative MP Candice Bergen citing media reports that say the man is in Toronto.

Daesh servers seized in Canada in multi-country takedown of propaganda network </s> OTTAWA—Conservative MPs say the government should be going after a Canadian who told a New York Times podcast that he shot people in the head as an executioner for Daesh militants in Syria.

The man, who used the name Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi, is now reported to be living in Toronto.

In question period on Friday, Conservatives demanded government action, but Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was cautious, saying he couldn’t comment because of security concerns.

“This individual is speaking freely to the media,” said Conservative House leader Candice Bergen. “The government has got to know where he is.”

Abu Huzaifa says, in “Caliphate,” the New York Times podcast, that he took part in a communal execution of Sunni Muslim men. He said the men, who were blindfolded and had their arms tied, were killed because they had offered resistance to Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

“At first you have to bring yourself to do it. You say, ‘OK I’m finally killing someone now.’ This is maybe the next step to being a front-line fighter, and I already had some goals of being a front-line fighter.”

In the end, “you kind of have to close your eyes and do it. You just shoot.”

Abu Huzaifa says in the podcast that he delivered the fatal shot to the back of the man’s head and felt justified in doing so. He also says he would not be held responsible for his killings. “You can do it and you won’t be held accountable.”

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN...

“The media are reporting this individual is in Toronto, right now, as we speak. Can the government confirm it? Why isn’t this government doing something?” Bergen asked.

Read more:

Conservative MP Candice Bergen is calling for more action from the government against a self-described terror recruit reportedly living in Toronto. The Canadian appeared on a recent New York Times podcast speaking about his actions as a Daesh (also known as the Islamic State or ISIS) militant. (The Canadian Press)

Daesh servers seized in Canada in multi-country takedown of propaganda network

Russian hackers posed as Daesh to threaten military wives

Goodale said police and security agencies are doing their jobs properly.

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN...

“I am charged with the responsibility of keeping Canadians safe,” he said. “Discussing operational matters on the floor of the House of Commons is exactly the opposite of keeping Canadians safe.”

Bergen, however, was not backing down.

“This guy is apparently in Toronto,” she said. “Canadians deserve more answers from this government. Why aren’t they doing something about this despicable animal?”

CBC News reported in 2017 that Abu Huzaifa had been questioned extensively by RCMP and CSIS, but had not been charged.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has estimated that about 60 Canadians have returned home after fighting with foreign terrorist groups.

Get more of the Star in your inbox Never miss the latest news from the Star. Sign up for our newsletters to get today's top stories, your favourite columnists and lots more in your inbox Sign Up Now

The federal government has established a centre to fund research and programs to stop radicalization and help people leave extremist groups, although the Conservatives have scorned its efforts as little more than poetry lessons for terrorists.

The government says it has a host of other counter-terrorism tools for returnees, including surveillance, criminal investigations, peace bonds and the revocation of passports.

Such measures are effective, Goodale told the Commons.

“The security and police agencies of this country do an extraordinary job in identifying individuals that pose a risk to the public and taking the appropriate action to make sure that Canadians are safe.”

Read more about: </s> OTTAWA — Conservative MPs say the government should be going after a Canadian who told a New York Times podcast that he shot people in the head as an executioner for Islamic State militants in Syria.

The man, who used the name Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi, is now reported to be living in Toronto.

In question period on Friday, Conservatives demanded government action, but Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was cautious, saying he couldn’t comment because of security concerns.

“This individual is speaking freely to the media,” said Conservative House leader Candice Bergen. “The government has got to know where he is.”

Bergen said he told the podcast he won’t be held responsible for his killings.

“The media are reporting this individual is in Toronto, right now, as we speak. Can the government confirm it? Why isn’t this government doing something?”

Goodale said police and security agencies are doing their jobs properly.

“I am charged with the responsibility of keeping Canadians safe,” he said. “Discussing operational matters on the floor of the House of Commons is exactly the opposite of keeping Canadians safe.”

Bergen, however, was not backing down.

“This guy is apparently in Toronto,” she said. “Canadians deserve more answers from this government. Why aren’t they doing something about this despicable animal?”

CBC News reported in 2017 that Abu Huzaifa had been questioned extensively by RCMP and CSIS, but had not been charged.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has estimated that about 60 Canadians have returned home after fighting with foreign terror groups.

The federal government has established a centre to fund research and programs to stop radicalization and help people leave extremist groups, although the Conservatives have scorned its efforts as little more than poetry lessons for terrorists.

The government says it has a host of other counter-terrorism tools for returnees, including surveillance, criminal investigations, peace bonds, and the revoking of passports.

Such measures are effective, Goodale told the Commons.

“The security and police agencies of this country do an extraordinary job in identifying individuals that pose a risk to the public and taking the appropriate action to make sure that Canadians are safe.” </s> OTTAWA – Conservative MPs say the government should be going after a Canadian who told a New York Times podcast that he shot people in the head as an executioner for Islamic State militants in Syria.

The man, who used the name Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi, is now reported to be living in Toronto.

In question period on Friday, Conservatives demanded government action, but Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was cautious, saying he couldn’t comment because of security concerns.

“This individual is speaking freely to the media,” said Conservative House leader Candice Bergen. “The government has got to know where he is.”

Global News reported in 2017 that a Pakistani-Canadian man who served in the Islamic State’s so-called morality police returned to Toronto and was questioned extensively by RCMP, but not been charged.

The man told Global News at the time that he had witnessed killings, but had never killed anyone himself.

READ MORE: What happens when an ISIS member returns to Canada? The story of one Toronto-area man

Bergen said he told the podcast he won’t be held responsible for his killings.

“The media are reporting this individual is in Toronto, right now, as we speak. Can the government confirm it? Why isn’t this government doing something?”

Goodale said police and security agencies are doing their jobs properly.

“I am charged with the responsibility of keeping Canadians safe,” he said. “Discussing operational matters on the floor of the House of Commons is exactly the opposite of keeping Canadians safe.”

Bergen, however, was not backing down.

READ MORE: What does it take to lay terrorism charges? An internal government document explains the RCMP view

“This guy is apparently in Toronto,” she said. “Canadians deserve more answers from this government. Why aren’t they doing something about this despicable animal?”

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has estimated that about 60 Canadians have returned home after fighting with foreign terror groups.

The federal government has established a centre to fund research and programs to stop radicalization and help people leave extremist groups, although the Conservatives have scorned its efforts as little more than poetry lessons for terrorists.

READ MORE: ISIS servers seized in Canada as countries launch coordinated takedown of propaganda network

The government says it has a host of other counter-terrorism tools for returnees, including surveillance, criminal investigations, peace bonds, and the revoking of passports.

Such measures are effective, Goodale told the Commons.

“The security and police agencies of this country do an extraordinary job in identifying individuals that pose a risk to the public and taking the appropriate action to make sure that Canadians are safe.” </s> Conservative MPs say the government should be going after a Canadian who told a New York Times podcast that he shot people in the head as an executioner for Islamic State militants in Syria. </s> OTTAWA — Canadian infants and children being held in Syria deserve the federal government’s help to get them out before winter comes, says a group representing them here.

The Canadians detained by Kurdish authorities in Syrian territory include nine families and more than 10 children, including some who were taken to Syria at young ages and others who were born there, said Alexandra Bain, the director of Families Against Violent Extremism.

Bain said the children are facing the outbreak of disease and a harsh winter and the Canadian government has a duty to protect its citizens. She said they live on a diet of rice and pasta and there are no diapers or milk for the infants.

Bain said her group and another volunteer organization want to foot the cost of getting these Canadians out of a war zone and are willing to do the necessary work on the ground, but that the government has to help them.

All those imprisoned in Syria should be vetted by Canadian authorities and it is possible some should face charges for their activities abroad, she added.

“They were all captured and detained in a war zone, and they must be thoroughly investigated by Canada’s security services and some will undoubtedly face justice,” said Bain.

Global News has reported that at least 13 Canadians — three alleged terrorists, their wives and children — are currently being detained in Syria.

The group includes Jack Letts, the British-raised son of a Canadian father and British mother, who has been dubbed “Jihadi Jack” by the U.K. media. His father, John, joined Bains on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, calling for the release of the Canadians. He branded as “fake news” the reports of his son’s being a terrorist, and laid the blame at the foot of a British journalist, whose use of the moniker stuck.

John Letts told the Hill press conference that he thinks his son is innocent and that he needs treatment for various illnesses contracted while in prison. He says his son was never involved in the violence perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS or Daesh.

“I want everyone here to know what we know: that Jack worked with others in the religious opposition to ISIS in Raqqa (the city the Islamic State claimed as its capital), that he condemned ISIS on social media, and that he wants to spend the rest of his life living peacefully and bearing witness against ISIS,” Letts said.

In a previous letter to Canadian MPs, Letts wrote that his son is a “naive young person who went to Syria hoping to help create a peaceful, utopian Muslim state” and who wound up trapped when Islamic terrorists took control of exit points.

Letts says that by saying that publicly he is violating British court orders that could get him thrown in jail when he returns to the country.

He and his wife, Sally Lane, were charged by British police in 2016 with funding terrorism after they tried to send their son money. In his letter, Letts wrote that the money was to pay “people smugglers,” who they believed had the only way to get their son out of Syria.

Letts said in his letter that his son’s Kurdish jailers have stated publicly that they’re willing to hand his son over to Canadian authorities. He also maintains Global Affairs Canada told the family for months that it was working to get their son released but that the department recently decided it’s too dangerous.

“It obviously has something to do with the upcoming election,” Letts said Tuesday. “We have fairly good evidence of the British having cracked the whip and said you have to toe the line — no one breaks the line of letting people back — and I think Canada is responding to that.”

Earlier this month, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer criticized the Trudeau government over reports that consular officials initiated contact with Letts, whom Scheer described as a “known jihadi fighter.” </s> Nahed Hattar, a member of the country's Christian minority, was shot three times outside a courthouse in the capital where charges against him were being heard.

Public Security Department personnel, who were near the scene of the attack, rushed Hattar to a nearby hospital, but he died from his injuries, Petra reported.

The security forces arrested the attacker and an investigation is underway, Petra reported.

Hattar, a political commentator and columnist, was remanded in custody last month after sharing a controversial cartoon on Facebook that sparked anger from Muslim groups. Amman Governor Khaled Abu Zeid ordered that the writer be held for the "blasphemous" Facebook post, Petra reported. Hattar was charged with the crimes of insulting religion, and inciting "sectarian strife and racism," for having posted the image, which was deemed as "abusive to the divine entity," Petra reported at the time. The cartoon, which Hattar said was intended to ridicule ISIS beliefs, depicted a bearded man in bed with two women in heaven as he instructs God to serve him wine and food. Hours after sharing the cartoon, Hattar explained on social media that it was aimed at criticizing the twisted view of paradise held by ISIS, according to Randa Habib, Amnesty International's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. "No one listened," she tweeted after his killing Sunday. The slain writer, who was released on bail earlier this month, had been "a controversial figure because of his blunt positions and passionate ideas. His killing is a low criminal act," Habib wrote. Hattar had also attracted controversy for writing articles in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. #NahedHattar was a controversial figure because of his blunt positions and passionate ideas. His killing is a low criminal act #RIP — Randa HABIB (@RandaHabib) September 25, 2016 A gag order issued by Jordan's attorney general in August prevented coverage of the case. The Prime Minister's office in Jordan denounced the killing on its official Twitter page Sunday. Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said he was confident the person responsible for "this ignominious crime" would receive "just punishment." Jordan is a leading Arab member of the US-led coalition fighting ISIS in neighboring Syria and Iraq, carrying out airstrikes against the terror group and hosting coalition troops on its soil. </s> A Somali asylum-seeker has been arrested on Sunday (1 October) after attacks in Edmonton, Canada left five people injured. The 30-year-old unidentified man reportedly stabbed a police officer and injured four pedestrians in the attack on Saturday.

The officer, who was directing traffic at a Canadian Football League game, was struck by a vehicle travelling at a high speed outside Alberta's Commonwealth Stadium and then was attacked with a knife, the BBC reported.

"The vehicle struck the police officer, sending him flying into the air 15 feet, before colliding with the police officer's cruiser again at a high rate of speed," Edmonton Police Service Chief Rod Knecht said.

The suspect then jumped out of the vehicle, stabbed the officer several times before fleeing on foot. A flag belonging to the Islamic State was reportedly found inside the vehicle that struck the police officer, broadcasters CBC and CTV reported.

Just before midnight, a man driving a rented van was pulled over at a checkpoint and the man's name on documents was reportedly "very similar" to that of the suspect police were looking for.

The man then fled the scene and was chased by officers. The vehicle struck four pedestrians during the pursuit, in what authorities are calling a deliberate action.

Two of the pedestrians hit were released from hospital, while the police officer is recovering from his injuries.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the incident a "terrorist attack" adding he was "deeply concerned and outraged" by "this senseless act of violence".

In a press conference on Sunday (1 October), authorities said the suspect was previously known to Edmonton police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Knecht said the suspect was arrested on several charges, including participation in a terrorist act and the commission of an offence for a terrorist group, CNN reported.

The man was investigated in 2015 after police received a report that he was "espousing extremist ideology," said RCMP Deputy Criminal Operations Officer Marlin Degrand.

There was insufficient evidence to pursue terrorism charges at the time and the suspect was not found to be a threat, Degrand said. Formal charges have not yet been filed.

The arrest came on the same day that an attacker was shot dead outside a railway station in Marseille, France after he killed two women with a knife in what is a suspected terror incident.
Conservative MP Candice Bergen calls for action on Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi, a man living in Toronto who claimed to have shot a Sunni prisoner in the head for the Islamic State in Syria.