Motion to dismiss charges against Quebec terror suspect rejected
Last Updated: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 | 4:38 PM ET
The Canadian Press
A judge has rejected a motion attempting to have terrorism-related charges dismissed against a Quebec man who argued they infringed on his right to freedom of speech.
Judge Claude Leblond issued the ruling Wednesday in the case of Said Namouh, who is charged with creating and distributing jihad propaganda.
Namouh's lawyer, Rene Duval, said he will appeal the decision.
The Moroccan native is facing four terrorism-related charges — conspiracy to detonate an explosive device, participating in a terrorist act, facilitating an act, and committing extortion for a terrorist group.
Both the Crown and the defence gave their final arguments on Wednesday.
The Crown contends Namouh is a member of the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), an organization involved in propaganda and jihad recruitment and which is described as a media tool for al-Qaeda.
Namouh was initially arrested in September 2007 for his alleged role in plotting terror attacks in Germany and Austria because of their military role in Afghanistan.
The Crown said RCMP computer-crimes detectives later found evidence on Namouh's computer of dozens of videos and other propaganda materials and thousands of pages of transcripts from chat and forum discussions revealing he was an active member on jihad forums and message boards.
Namouh is alleged to have spent countless hours creating, distributing and re-distributing numerous propaganda videos that included images of deaths of Western soldiers and of suicide bombings.
In his closing arguments, Crown prosecutor Dominique Dudemaine described the videos as Namouh's "bread and butter."
The videos the Crown alleges were produced by Namouh include the kidnapping video of BBC journalist Alan Johnston in Gaza by a group known as the Army of Islam, a group affiliated with GIMF.
Namouh, 36, did not take the stand in his own defence and Duval presented no arguments other than the constitutional challenge.
Duval insisted there was no conspiracy, calling the discussions between Namouh and his Austrian counterpart, Mohammed Mahmoud, unilateral conversations.
"Mere expression of interest does not amount to conspiracy," Duval said. "You need to have an agreement between two people."
Mahmoud, described as a leader of the GIMF, was sentenced in March 2008 in Austria.
Duval also lambasted the Crown's star witness, controversial U.S. counterterrorism expert Rita Katz, suggesting she was biased and racist toward Arabs.
He also said she simply collected information off the internet without the background to properly evaluate it.
Katz testified for days and submitted a lengthy report about Namouh's online activity under the name "Ashraf."
Dudemaine defended Katz as a credible expert witness whose findings were backed up by a second expert.
Namouh, a permanent Canadian resident, has been detained since his arrest in Maskinonge, a small town northeast of Montreal.
He also asked Leblond to consider whether the GIMF is a terrorist group and whether publishing al-Qaeda propaganda or violent jihad propaganda is a crime in Canada.
"The judge may decide the guilt or not of Said Namouh without answering those questions and I think it's a good occasion for the court to send a message whether it is permitted in Canada," Dudemaine said.
