Canadian Muslim Cleric Hate
The imam who
is everywhere
No one was surprised when
Toronto’s best-known Muslim cleric showed up at the courthouse
By MICHELLE SHEPARD The Toronto Star
When Canada’s most quoted and often controversial imam, Ally Hindy, appeared at the Brampton courthouse this past weekend to support the group police describe as a homegrown terrorism cell, few were surprised.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, and with Canada’s focus on terrorism, Hindy has either known, or involved himself with, virtually every high-profile Canadian accused of terrorism offences.
He has also been one of the most vocal critics of Canada’s spy service and the RCMP — the federal agencies that investigated the alleged cell of 17 people who were arrested last weekend as part of a massive police raid. Hindy claims police and the spies unfairly target Muslims, and that their invasive tactics have dissuaded many in the community from co-operating with federal authorities.
He said he feels it’s his duty to ensure suspects get a fair trial.
Now it appears that some of the comments that garnered him headlines in the past two years have a connection to this case.
Last July, Hindy warned then public safety minister Anne McLellan at a closed-door meeting with Muslim leaders that the government must stop "terrorizing" Canadian Muslims.
"If you try to cross the line, I can’t guarantee what is going to happen. Our young people, we can’t control," Hindy told The Globe and Mail last summer in relaying what he said at the meeting.
He was complaining about a young Muslim woman who had recently told him she was "roughed up" by Canadian spies while her husband was away at prayers. Hindy had circulated flyers in Toronto mosques detailing the woman’s allegations and reminding people that they were not legally obliged to speak with agents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
That woman, sources say, is the wife of suspect Fahim Ahmad, who now faces six terrorism-related charges, including accusations he was involved in the purchase of guns and an alleged bomb plot.
A month after Hindy made these comments, it’s alleged that Ahmad rented the car that Ali Dirie and Yasin Abdi Mohamed were driving when arrested at the border for smuggling loaded guns and ammunition from the United States to Canada. They pleaded guilty last October and are both serving two-year sentences. Ahmad was not arrested at the time, but all three now face charges of allegedly acquiring weapons in association for a terrorist group.
Once Hindy’s accusations were made public last year, CSIS took the unprecedented step of defending itself, phoning Toronto media outlets to offer comment and asking police to probe the claim. Four months later, Toronto police closed the investigation because they said the woman refused to come forward.
Hindy would not comment on that case, but did speak of Ahmad and the eight other suspects he knows. At one point, he said, Ahmad told him he wanted to go to Afghanistan to join the jihad, but Hindy encouraged him to stay here and find non-violent ways to express his frustration.
Among the other suspects Hindy knows are Ahmad Mustafa Ghany and Zakaria Amara, who married sisters in ceremonies presided over by Hindy.
In the past, it was the Khadr family who drew reporters and police to Hindy. He knew reputed Al Qaeda financier Ahmed Said Khadr and his six children during the 1990s, when the family lived between Scarborough, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Khadr was killed in a 2003 battle with Pakistani forces and his children were either arrested for terrorism offences or returned to Toronto. Hindy was one of the few in the community who would speak up for their rights.
He has in the past offered bond for some of those held on national security certificates, unrelated to this case.
"I feel this is my duty to be there," Hindy said yesterday.
"Very easy I could not mention I married these two guys, disappear, not speak much. But I like to be there because I think this is happening to us, our community and many Muslim leaders just want to avoid to be in any situation like that."
If the accusations that the group plotted to bomb Canadian targets are proven, Hindy said, then no lenience is deserved.
"If my son is doing something to destroy this country, I can say he should be hanged, not just put in jail," he said.