An RCMP officer told a judge on Wednesday that Rehab Dughmosh, a Toronto terrorist who was convicted and who attacked a Scarborough Canadian Tire in 2017 while brandishing a knife and a golf club and yelling, “This is for ISIS,” continued to express her support for the Islamic State terror group and her desire to kill people while incarcerated. Now that she is free, she may commit another act of terrorism.
In light of the RCMP’s continuing worries, the Crown was in court asking Dughmosh to sign a terrorism peace bond, which is a legal instrument in which she would agree to abide by rules and not breach any laws for a period of two years. The parole officer was informed by Dughmosh, among other things, that “I will commit a new terrorist attack if you or your government don’t send me back to Syria.”
A jury found 39-year-old Dughmosh guilty in 2019 of two terrorism-related offenses: departing Canada in 2016 in an effort to
The judge at the time noted that the woman’s mental illness was a major contributing factor to her illegal conduct, and she was sentenced to seven years in jail. After receiving credit for pre-trial custody, she had approximately four and a half years remaining to serve. Although her sentence was served in July of last year, she is back in jail because she did not sign the documents allowing her to be released on bond while the court considered the peace bond.
Federal Crown prosecutor Xenia Proestos informed Ontario Court Justice Edward Kelly on Wednesday that “the record demonstrates that there is a reasonable basis to fear that Ms. Dughmosh may commit an offence.” “Ms. Dughmosh has shown over an extended period of time a persistent use of violence or threats of violence based on her ideology.”
Wearing a brown jacket and a black niqab, Dughmosh used an Arabic interpreter to watch the hearing on Wednesday from the prisoner’s box.
The conditions for the peace bond will be proposed by the Crown during the subsequent hearing. It’s unclear if Dughmosh, who declined to respond to the judge’s inquiries, will sign one if Kelly does order one. Kelly may put her in jail for up to a year if she doesn’t.
RCMP officer Kevin Marques, a former member of the integrated national security enforcement team, testified on behalf of the Crown on Wednesday. He said that Dughmosh “continued to state her belief and solidarity with ISIS, threatened to kill and maim inmates, and stated her need to fulfill her contract with ISIS” while she was incarcerated at a women’s prison in Ontario.
