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Toronto delivery man accused of dismembering a prisoner in Iraq nearly a decade ago has become the first suspect ISIS member to face war crimes charges in Canada, experts said.
An indictment filed in Ontario court has charged Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi with four counts, including torture and murder, under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
The alleged incidents happened during the height of ISIS in 2014 and 2015. Three years later, Eldidi flew to Toronto and made a refugee claim which was accepted. He is now a Canadian citizen.
Global news revealed Last summer Eldidi, a former Amazon driver originally from Egypt, was allegedly seen in a 2015 ISIS video using a sword to cut off the hands and feet of a prisoner.
“I can confirm that Ahmed Eldidi is charged with crimes under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act,” Nathalie Houle, spokeswoman for the Canadian Tax Service, said Monday.
The charges are a first for Canada, said Professor Michael Nesbitt, associate dean of research at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law and a leading expert on national security law.
“It’s kind of a big deal,” he said.
He said Canada’s prosecution had never before used the war crimes act against a suspect for alleged crimes committed on Islamic State soil, he said.
Rather, Canada has primarily used war crimes laws for deportations and revocation of citizenship. In 2021, resident in BC pleaded guilty to war crimes for promoting hatred against residents of the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Eldidi was already charged with aggravated assault for the alleged incident in Iraq, as well as terrorism charges for what the RCMP said was an aborted ISIS attack plot in Toronto.
But six months later, the Crown has brought more serious war crimes charges, alleging the 62-year-old committed mutilation and “attacks on personal dignity” during an armed conflict.
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The victim is not named in the indictment, obtained by Global News, but is described as a “protected person in a non-international armed conflict.”
The charges were approved on December 11 by George Dolhai, Canada’s assistant attorney general.
ISIS committed untold atrocities in Syria and Iraq, including the genocide of the Yazidis, but in 2019 lost the last bit of its territory to Kurdish fighters and an international military coalition.
Since then, there has been little justice against ISIS members, including in Canada, where only a handful of those who have returned home after serving with the group have been prosecuted.
Most of the Canadian ISIS women who have returned to BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have been arrested on peace bonds that restrict their movements but do not constitute a criminal charge.
Eldidi’s alleged crimes were captured in four minutes video published in 2015 by the ISIS branch in northwestern Iraq. Titled ‘Deterring Spies’, it shows a prisoner confessing before being led out into a deserted area.
The prisoner is then shown hanging from a crucifix while a man wearing an ISIS hat cuts off his appendages with a sword. The prosecution has alleged that the man wielding the sword is Eldidi.
Despite his alleged past in Iraq, Eldidi was able to fly into Toronto’s Pearson Airport in 2018. His asylum claim was accepted by the Immigration and Refugee Board and he became a citizen in May.
However, following a subsequent tip from French authorities, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team launched investigations.
Police arrested Eldidi and her 27-year-old son Mostafa after they allegedly recorded a video in which they held an ax and machete and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror group.
The case has raised questions about empty in Canada’s immigration security screening system. The government has defended its actions but said it was reviewing the matter.
“The review is ongoing and more information will be communicated when it becomes available,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in a statement last month.
In a Permanent Commission of Public Security and National Security audition in August, Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman questioned how “someone like this, who is an alleged ISIS terrorist” was able to obtain citizenship.
“Do you really think this is how the system should work? Do you really think this is not a colossal failure of your government? she said
The number of investigations related to ISIS has it increased across Canada, with 20 suspects arrested this year and last, compared to just two in 2022.
According to police and experts, young people are driving the rise in ISIS activity as the terrorist group recovers from its 2019 defeat in Syria.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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