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Canada: Muslim said it was “God’s will” for him to join jihad terror group

Mar 28, 2014 9:57 pm By Robert Spencer

PJT-MohamedHersi-5.jpgHe thought that joining a jihad terror group was “the ultimate sacrifice you can make for your religion.” Mohamed Hersi grew up in Toronto. Where did he get the idea that his religion obligated him to engage in terrorist violence? We’re constantly told that all Muslims in the West reject the idea that Islam and jihad have anything to do with terrorism. So how did Hersi become a misunderstander of Islam? How did he become “radicalized”? Does anyone know? Does anyone care? Or would asking such questions be “Islamophobic”?

“Toronto man told undercover officer it was ‘God’s Will’ for him join terror-group Al-Shabab, trial hears,” by Stewart Bell for the National Post, March 25 (thanks to Michael):

BRAMPTON, Ont.—A Toronto security guard on trial for allegedly attempting to join the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabab said he believed it was his religious duty to do so, an undercover police officer testified on Tuesday.

“It’s the ultimate sacrifice you can make for your religion,” Mohamed Hassan Hersi said, according to the testimony of the officer, whose identity cannot be disclosed to due a publication ban. “Basically it’s God’s will.”

Three years after Mr. Hersi was arrested at Toronto’s Pearson Airport as he was about to board flights to London and Cairo, his trial is now underway and jurors are hearing from the undercover officer who befriended the Somali-Canadian.

The trial comes amid concern over the radicalization of Canadians — dozens of whom have joined Islamist terror groups in the Middle East and Africa. Al-Shabab was behind last year’s massacre at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that left two Canadians dead.

A 28-year-old Canadian who grew up in Toronto, Mr. Hersi came to the attention of police in September 2010 when an employee of a Toronto dry cleaning business found a USB device in a bag of clothes, according to a statement of “agreed facts” released by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

The dry cleaner turned the jump drive over to Toronto police, which found it contained a copy of The Anarchist’s Cookbook, a Canadian Forces Department of National Defense Operational Manual and reports from Intercon Security, where Mr. Hersi worked.

In the months that followed, police planted an undercover officer close to Mr. Hersi. The officer testified that at a meeting in January in the Scarborough Town Centre parking lot, he asked Mr. Hersi how he knew he wanted to join Al-Shabab.

“He believed it was the duty of every Muslim,” the officer said. When the officer, who was pretending he also wanted to join Al-Shabab, confided he was having doubts, Mr. Hersi said that was the devil talking. “He puts these voices in your head,” Mr. Hersi allegedly said.

By late January, police had obtained permission to record Mr. Hersi’s conversations. Nowhere in the tapes played Tuesday did Mr. Hersi say clearly that he intended to join Al-Shabab, although he appeared to give the officer advice about Al-Shabab and traveling to Somalia. “Don’t be scared,” Mr. Hersi said.

But Mr. Hersi did speak repeatedly about wanting to leave Canada, which he said was “like a police state,” and mentioned his plans to go to Egypt and, from there, to possibly make his way to Somalia, where Al-Shabab was battling pro-government forces in an attempt to impose its severe version of Islamic law.

“Here everything is anti-prayer, anti-Islam … even if it’s a tyrannical place, it’s better than Canada,” he said. “I want to live in a place that’s better than this.” Somalia was better than Canada, he said, “because you can live in a place where there’s Islamic law.”

Great. Go.

In his rambling conversations, he decried what he considered Canada’s hostility to his faith, claiming that “all non-Muslims hate Islam.” But he appeared to display intolerance himself, saying that “talking to a non-Muslim about morality and shit, they don’t even know what morality is, Christians.”

He also complained that “brothers” at Toronto’s Salahedin mosque had been arrested on security certificates (used to deport foreign nationals deemed threats to Canada’s security), and said nobody cared because only Muslims were affected. Asked how he knew, he said, “My imam talks about it.”

“It’s pretty tyrannical,” he said.

He claimed to know the son of one of the terror suspects arrested on a security certificate, and complained police were entering peoples’ homes and planting listening devices and cameras. “The government is very evil, what they’re doing to average Muslims.”

In anticipation of leaving Canada, Mr. Hersi was working as many shifts as he could to earn money and had joined a Goodlife fitness club, the undercover officer testified. “He explained he wanted to get fitter before he went away,” he said.

When he was arrested at the airport, Mr. Hersi was carrying his Canadian passport, US$6,000, 1,100 Euros, and what was described as a “black spy pen.” On his laptop, police found the “Anarchy Cookbook” and the “U.S. Navy SEAL sniper training syllabus.”

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Filed Under: Al-Shabaab, Canada Tagged With: featured


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Comments

  1. eib says

    Mar 28, 2014 at 10:09 pm

    I think it’s God’s will for me to say Islam is profane.
    There.
    Done.

    • john spielman says

      Mar 29, 2014 at 8:06 am

      and Mohammed was a demon possessed pedophile, mass murderer, liar, thief, misogynist, and false prophet!

  2. Guy Macher says

    Mar 28, 2014 at 10:33 pm

    Canadians never got a chance to say if we wanted the Third World to come to destroy our country. We need a Canada Defense Party.

    • Rob says

      Mar 28, 2014 at 11:52 pm

      That’s the answer in a nutshell.
      The politicians posture on the international stage about how welcoming and liberal they are. The left-ish academics scrutinise the public reaction to the influx and tut tut when it doesn’t work out all ‘Brotherhood and Kumbaya).
      However, it is Joe Public that has to endure the no go zones, the schools their kids attend flooded with newcomers who can’t read or write their native languages let alone English. Whose school boards cave into prayer rooms and nothing that isn’t halal in the cafetaria.
      Who see demos and placards proclaiming ‘Sharia4Where-ever’ and local girls groomed and raped, by these miscreants.
      Thanks again Robert for this fight.

  3. Jay Boo says

    Mar 28, 2014 at 10:50 pm

    Ordinary Immoral behavior is often shamefully rationalized with invented excuses.
    Muhammad invented Islam to disguise indefensible despicable behavior.
    GOD’S WILL is the excuse of Shameless Islam

  4. richard Sherman says

    Mar 28, 2014 at 10:51 pm

    Typical Muslim..emulating the sociopath MUHAMMAD who PERSONALLY DECAPITATED 900 UNARMED JEWS..killing infidels is in their DNA…the Koran requires them to do it…

  5. mortimer says

    Mar 28, 2014 at 11:00 pm

    Allah needs blood, and delusional young men who study the Islamic texts concerning warfare against disbelievers are determined to provide it for this imaginary, bloodthirsty demon.

    The Canadian immigration department and legal department need to protect Canadians from domestic terrorism by deporting all known terrorists, cancelling their passports while they are out of the country and deporting their families if they knew about and supported their terrorism without reporting it to the authorities. It’s time to PROTECT CANADIANS and not allow jihadists the right to murder them in their own country.

    • Stephen Poole says

      Mar 28, 2014 at 11:14 pm

      … See above … OX …

      • Stephen Poole says

        Mar 28, 2014 at 11:20 pm

        … Mort … … OX …

    • Jay Boo says

      Mar 28, 2014 at 11:54 pm

      Mortimer
      Another Jihad Jerk Muslim with an attitude tattoo.

      I don’t see why we should not ban all mosques and send all Imams to prison for lengthy prison sentences.
      Since CAIR (with a “not our problem attitude’ ) is silent about the way Islam treats religious minorities, they should be in total agreement or else they are hypocrites.

    • Jay Boo says

      Mar 28, 2014 at 11:56 pm

      @mortimer
      PS I totally agree

      • Stephen Poole says

        Mar 29, 2014 at 12:04 am

        … The RCMP/CSIS kinda do too, JayBoo … Just sayin’ … SP OX …

        • Jay Boo says

          Mar 29, 2014 at 12:07 am

          A WEMA WA DO DANG Shama Lama Ding Dong Doo Doo to you too
          Just trolling for attention

  6. Jay Boo says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 12:05 am

    Slightly off topic

    Raleigh, N.C. — A Raleigh man was sentenced Friday to at least 263 years in prison after he was convicted of a series of burglaries and violent home invasions in 2012 and 2013, including one in Raleigh’s Oakwood neighborhood that left a man paralyzed.

    Jurors deliberated for about six hours over two days before finding Jahaad Tariem Allah Marshall, 27, guilty on 22 charges, including attempted first-degree murder, first-degree sexual offense, attempted rape, three counts of first-degree burglary and four counts of first-degree kidnapping.

    • Stephen Poole says

      Mar 29, 2014 at 12:26 am

      … You need to double the/your dose, Jay Boo … Just sayin’ … SP OX …

      • Stephen Poole says

        Mar 29, 2014 at 12:45 am

        … Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and, Canadian Security Intelligence Service … .. Just so that you know, J Boo … SP OX …

        • Stephen Poole says

          Mar 29, 2014 at 12:55 am

          … J Boo ?? … OX …

      • Defcon 4 says

        Mar 30, 2014 at 2:27 am

        YOu need to drink more healthy camel urine “Stephen”.

  7. Steffen Larsen says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 4:11 am

    Wikipedia: “Inter-Con Security Systems, Inc. (Inter-Con) was founded in 1973 with the goal of developing and implementing comprehensive security programs custom tailored to its clients’ needs. Inter-Con is a U.S. owned security company which provides a full range of physical and administrative security services to government and commercial customers on three continents.”

    So we have a Muslim with terrorist leanings and with access to the know-how needed to provide “physical and administrative security services to government and commercial customers.” And bypass them.

    • dumbledoresarmy says

      Mar 29, 2014 at 4:18 am

      That’s what stood out to me when I read this story.

      He was working as a **security guard**.

      Fox. Henhouse.

      NO non-Muslim entity should *ever* hire any identifiable/ identifying Muslim as a security guard or bouncer or permit same to enlist in the army or police force.

      • Steffen Larsen says

        Mar 29, 2014 at 8:11 am

        Security guard and security guard, it can be several things. Big or small.
        It can be highly specialized, or it can be like the church in Denmark: it was the victim of repeated vandalism in a now largely Muslim area, even during services, and therefore came under the protection of a Muslim security company.

      • gravenimage says

        Apr 1, 2014 at 10:27 pm

        And Your Black Muslim Bakery associates run security firms that are *still* being patronized by Infidel authorities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Suicidal madness…

  8. dumbledoresarmy says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 4:24 am

    Here’s the other thing that stood out.

    “Mr. Hersi came to the attention of police in September 2010 when **an employee of a Toronto dry cleaning business found a USB device in a bag of clothes, according to a statement of “agreed facts” released by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

    The dry cleaner turned the jump drive over to Toronto police, which found it contained a copy of The Anarchist’s Cookbook, a Canadian Forces Department of National Defense Operational Manual and reports from Intercon Security, where Mr. Hersi worked.** ”

    I wonder what it was that led the dry cleaner to hand the USB drive over to the police rather than give it back to the person (Mr Hersi, or someone else?) who had handed the bag of clothes in for cleaning? After all, if you run a laundromat or a drycleaning business and you find a customer has accidentally left a USB in the pocket of their clothes that they have left with you for cleaning, the usual procedure would be to set it aside, and give it to them when they come to collect. Or did the drycleaner take a peek at what was on it, just outta curiosity, or because of getting a funny vibe off the customer, and then think..uh oh??

    And kudos to Toronto police for following through.

    • voegelinian says

      Mar 29, 2014 at 4:43 am

      “I wonder what it was that led the dry cleaner to hand the USB drive over to the police rather than give it back to the person (Mr Hersi, or someone else?) who had handed the bag of clothes in for cleaning?”

      Perhaps he exercised common sense in conjunction with Muslim profiling (which may well include suspecting that someone may be a Muslim without knowing it — a concept for which Phillip Jihadski mercilessly mocked me not too long ago). With friends like these…

      • Steffen Larsen says

        Mar 29, 2014 at 8:18 am

        Perhaps the dry cleaner was a bit naughty and had a peek at something not of his concern. Kudos to him for admitting this by going to the police.

        Or the ownership of the USB device was uncertain until a closer look at the contents.

        http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/article17654155.ece/BINARY/document.pdf

        • voegelinian says

          Mar 29, 2014 at 4:12 pm

          Naughty for no reason other than naughtiness? It doesn’t make sense that a dry cleaner business employee would pry into someone’s flash drive (look left and right, pocket it, take it later to a computer, plug it in, survey the files inside) for no reason other than “naughtiness”. No, the most likely motive was that he thought the guy was a Muslim and perhaps the customer gave out other bad vibes of Muslimness; and perhaps the dry cleaner business employee had had past bad experience with Muslims. Less likely, though this a possibility: the dry cleaner business employee is a regular Jihad Watch reader (which would only augment, not contradict, my theory — unless he were a Phillip Jihadski or Dave Greybeard or any number of other Jihad Watch Softies, who wouldn’t want to be prejudiced without any prior information — I mean the guy could be a Middle Eastern Christian, right…?).

  9. Angemon says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 5:08 am

    If he’s found guilty then strip him of his canadian citizenship, ship him off to Somalia or whatever other islamic third world tyrannical hell hole he wants to be in and add him to Canada’s banned list. Regardless of the outcome of the trial, authorities should investigate his inner circle, the mosque(s) he attended to and their respective imam(s). If authorities end up getting labelled as “islamophobes” all they have to do is flip the bird and point out the blindfold on Lady Justice’s statue.

    • voegelinian says

      Mar 29, 2014 at 7:43 pm

      We need to come to the realization — based upon a mountain of data and an ocean of dots (riddled with what Frank Gaffney calls “connective tissue”) — that simply being a Muslim ipso facto constitutes guilt, and ipso facto reveals that the person in question never was a citizen to begin with, nor could possibly be a citizen.

      Once we come to this realization, we will not even need to “strip” Muslims in the West of their citizenship; since we will see that they cannot possibly be citizens in the first place, given their seditiously supremacist Islam. What we will need to strip, however, is our own ridiculous PC MC that obstructs our reason from this most exigent realization.

      • Defcon 4 says

        Mar 30, 2014 at 2:31 am

        @Voeg

        Nice idea, but it’s never gonna happen, not without
        a civil war.

        • voegelinian says

          Mar 30, 2014 at 4:52 pm

          Never say never.

  10. gerard says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 5:19 am

    It was the Devil’s will for him to join jihad terror group.
    Get your story right Goat-worshipper!

  11. citycat says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 5:44 am

    Hersi probably had an out of place vibe and an out of place confidence because he is on a mission.

  12. Buraq says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 7:14 am

    First, Allah encourages this clown to get mixed up in violent jihad, then allows him to be caught — according to his beliefs!

    Do these jihadists have a single, functioning brain cell?

    Clown!

  13. Isabella says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 8:42 am

    Get him out of the country. Canada create a Bill for unfitted citizens. This guy is undesirable in Canada. Canada there are many many individuals like him on your territory. They cost too much to the country in terms of surveillance, jail costs, legal fees, welfare. Get the trash out please.

    Be a leader in saying no to jihadists! Other countries will folllow and create a similar bill.

  14. varma says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 9:06 am

    I love This Post great info thank u

    perfect hackz

  15. Mirren10 says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 9:55 am

    ”Three years after Mr. Hersi was arrested at Toronto’s Pearson Airport as he was about to board flights to London and Cairo, his trial is now underway … ”

    **Three years** ??!!

    What on earth is the Canadian legal system playing at ?

    Has this creep been on on remand for three years ?

    I can’t believe it’s taken three *years* to gather enough evidence to prosecute.

  16. lulu says

    Mar 29, 2014 at 10:24 am

    The true Islam, is the Islam of Quran, Hadiths, Sira and the Islam we all have seen the in Muslim countries, It’s not the Islam which Muslims who lives in Western Nation practices and trying to show the West with Deception that they are so called ”moderate Muslims”, while that there is No such thing as Moderate Muslims in any Islamic teaching. Because Muslims in the West understand what the Westerners values Most and they can’t just force Islam into Western system but try t…

  17. gravenimage says

    Apr 1, 2014 at 10:36 pm

    Describing this Somali Jihadist as a “Toronto man” is just ludicrous.

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