Lawyer For Toronto 18 Member Found Guilty Argues Client Was Entrapped
Posted January 26, 2010 12:33 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A lawyer for Toronto 18 member Shareef Abdelhaleem says it seems police used his client as a “conduit” to reach one of the ringleaders of the terror plot.
William Naylor says Abdelhaleem was often “just a body sitting there” during meetings with ringleader Zakaria Amara and another man acting as an RCMP agent.
Abdelhaleem was found guilty last week of plotting to bomb financial, intelligence and military targets but Naylor has brought a motion to have the matter stayed, arguing his client was entrapped.
During the entrapment hearing today, Naylor suggested the Crown’s only witness, Shaher Elsohemy, was instructed to get Abdelhaleem and Amara to meet to try to get information about the plot.
The RCMP agent who handled Elsohemy testified that Abdelhaleem discussed the plot at length with Amara and was privy to many of its details – and that was the reason why Elsohemy was sent to him.
Abdelhaleem and 17 others were arrested and charged with terrorism offences in 2006 and came to be known as the Toronto 18.
