Canada: Calgary man guilty of sharing Islamic State recruitment videos on TikTok gets six years jail term
Calgary/IBNS: Zakarya Rida Hussein, a 20 year old Calgary man, allegedly guilty of sharing Islamic State recruitment videos and propaganda on TikTok will be sentenced to spend the next six years behind bars.
Hussein's arrest followed a joint investigation led by the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team with assistance from the Calgary Police Service on June 15.
The sentence was announced during a court appearance on Friday after he pleaded guilty to one of four terrorism-related charges
Besides admitting that he owned social media accounts that posted ISIS recruitment videos and propaganda, Hussein also confessed to sharing a bomb-making video online.
An agreed statement of facts, which was read into court by Crown prosecutor Kent Brown, said a notebook with step-by-step instructions for making a bomb, an Islamic State group flag, several electronics, a black collapsible baton, knives and imitation brass knuckles were found following a search warrant on his home and vehicle.
Being required to submit DNA results, Hussein will be under lifetime ban from owning firearms after he's released.
The imposition of the recommended sentence was made after joint submissions for the six-year sentence were made by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) and counsel for Hussein.
The remaining charges were stayed in light of the acknowledgement of the facts as part of the guilty plea.
“This sentence reflects the seriousness of the use of the internet to promote ideologically motivated violence and society’s condemnation of terrorism,”Director of Public Prosecutions George Dolhai has said.
A national organization responsible for prosecuting offences under federal jurisdiction in an unbiased manner respecting the public interest, PPSC is also responsible for providing prosecution-related advice to law enforcement agencies across Canada.
In an ongoing national security investigation for terrorism-related offences, two other young Calgarians have also been charged by RCMP.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the two teens, who cannot be named, have been released with conditions, pending the outcome of Terrorism Peace Bond applications.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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