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06-10-2006, 06:27 AM
Sketches of the Ontario-based terror suspects
CTV.ca News Staff
Details are starting to emerge about the lives of the suspected Islamic terrorists who were taken into custody in a series of southern Ontario raids.
No details are available about the five suspects who are under the age of 18, whose identities are concealed under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act. However, sources have told the Toronto Star some attended the same high school.
One interesting fact is this: Only six of the 12 adults have been charged with intending to cause an explosion: Fahim Ahmad, Zakaria Amara, Asad Ansari, Shareef Abdelhaleem, Quayyum Abdul Jamal and Saad Khalid.
Fahim Ahmad:
Ahmad is a 21-year-old devout Muslim man from east-end Toronto.
Friends say he had a reputation as a friendly person who played basketball with a group of teens every Friday and never missed prayer at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto in Scarborough.
He is said to have become friends with two other suspects -- Saad Khalid and Zakaria Amara -- at Mississauga's Meadowvale Secondary School.
Ahmad faces five charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity, receiving training in terrorism, providing training in terrorism, intent to cause an explosion.
Shareef Abdelhaleen:
The 30-year-old unmarried son of an engineer who immigrated to Canada from Egypt 20 years ago. A neighbour told the Toronto Star that the computer programmer lived at his Mississauga home for about four years.
He is said to be still recovering from a heart operation he had in April.
Abdelhaleen faces two charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group and intent to cause an explosion.
Qayyum Abdul Jamal:
The 43-year-old father of four boys is married to a Canadian woman who converted to Islam.
Neighbours said the Karachi-native drove a school bus and was an active member of his Mississauga, Ont., community where he lived in a townhouse. According to the Star, Jamal's first wife died a few years ago of an unknown illness.
Jamal was considered something of a role model for teenagers at the Ar-Rahman Islamic Centre in Mississauga, the same strip mall mosque that six of his co-accused attended.
The devout Muslim was also known for his fiery rhetoric at the mosque where he also volunteered as a caretaker and sometimes led prayers.
In one public confrontation at the mosque, Jamal who was supposed to introduce federal MP Wajid Khan, attacked the Canadian military's mission in Afghanistan.
"He said Canadian troops were (in Afghanistan) to rape Muslim women," federal MP Wajid Khan told CTV News, recalling the year-old incident.
"That's exactly where I stopped him and said, 'don't talk nonsense'."
One of the mosque's board members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Globe and Mail a few parents barred their children from attending the mosque because they were worried about his mounting influence.
Jamal faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training with a terrorist group, intent to cause an explosion.
Mohammed Dirie:
The 22-year-old landed immigrant is currently serving a two-year sentence in a Kingston, Ont. jail for attempting to smuggle a gun across the American border.
He pleaded guilty last October, saying he had bought the gun for his protection.
Also known as Ali Dirie, he came to Canada from Somalia at the age of seven.
The Star reports Dirie previously worked as a carpenter but wanted to go to college to become an X-ray technician.
Dirie faces two counts: Knowingly of participating in a terrorist group as well as charges of importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity.
Yasim Abdi Mohamed:
Currently serving a two-year sentence on weapons-smuggling charges at the same jail as Dirie for attempting to bring a gun across the U.S. border.
He was born in Somalia and immigrated to Canada when he was 7 along with his younger brother and parents.
The family lived in Cambridge before moving to Toronto nearly five years ago.
The 24-year-old lived in his mother's Toronto home before his arrest.
His mother Asha Muhyadin recounted a conversation she had with her son soon after his parole hearing last year.
"Mummy, they are changing my story around. They want to know about terrorism," he told her.
He said that the officers questioned him about terrorism and links to al Qaeda instead of asking how he came to possess a gun, the Star reported.
Mohamed faces two counts: Knowingly participating in a terrorist group and importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity.
Amin Mohamed Durrani:
Described as friendly and cheerful by younger brother Ibrahim, the 19-year-old was not well known among his neighbours.
Ibrahim told the Star his brother used to disappear for weeks at a time.
"I heard he was going to some camp," he said. "But I don't know anything about it."
He said that Durrani and his friends would reappear usually with gifts in tow.
"They brought me a lot of stuff, like army suits and caps," he said. "Sometimes, he'll go get pizza."
Durrani faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism, providing training in terrorism.
Steven Vikash Chand:
A recent Muslim convert, the 25-year-old also went by the name of Abdul Shakur. A member of his mosque said Chand attended Salaheddin Islamic Centre two to three times a week.
Chand moved into a basement suite near his mosque about six months ago.
The homeowner told the Star that Chand had just started a job at a nearby shawarma shop at the time of his arrest.
According to the Globe and Mail, Chand regularly distributed reading material about Islam at local public schools, encouraging youths to accept God.
Chand faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism, providing training in terrorism.
Ahmad Mustafa Ghany:
Ghany is a recent health sciences graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton.
The 21-year-old is the son of a urologist who immigrated to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago more than 40 years ago.
Ghany spent his early years in Saudi Arabia where his father was hired at the King Saud University as a medical professor and consultant.
When the Ghany family's eldest son died, they sold their Brampton home and left the country temporarily, the Globe reports.
While abroad, they bought a Mississauga home and rented it out.
When they returned to Canada during the first Gulf War, Dr. Ghany and his wife Umaima Ghany took on a prominent role in Mississauga' Islamic community.
According to the Star, Ghany is the brother-in-law of another suspect, Zakaria Amara.
Ghany faces two charges: faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group and receiving training in terrorism.
Zakaria Amara:
The 20-year-old man moved into his mother-in-law's Mississauga, Ont., home last week where he planned to live with his wife and their eight-month-old daughter.
His wife told the Globe he was going to school and working in a gas station.
According to the Star -- another suspect -- Ahmad Mustafa Ghany is Amara's brother-in-law.
Ghany is said to be married to Amara's wife's sister.
He is said to have become friends with two other suspects -- Fahim Ahmad and Saad Khalid -- at Mississauga's Meadowvale Secondary School.
Amara faces four charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism, providing training in terrorism, intent to cause an explosion.
Asad Ansari:
Few details are available about the 21-year-old who lived in Mississauga with a family of four or five people. Neighbours told reporters the family moved into the home about two years ago.
Ansari faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism and intent to cause an explosion.
Saad Khalid:
The 19-year-old is said to be a business student at the University of Toronto's' Mississauga campus.
When he attended a mosque, he went to Mississauga's Al-Rahman Islamic Centre for Islamic Education, the same mosque attended by the eldest suspect, a relative told Globe.
Khalid, who moved to Canada from Pakistan when he was 8, told his parents he was attending a job fair in Toronto on the day police stormed his parents' townhouse.
The Star reports Khalid created the "Religious Awareness Club in high school, where he would preach Islam during the lunch break.
He is said to have become friends with two other suspects -- Fahim Ahmad and Zakaria Amara -- at Mississauga's Meadowvale Secondary School.
Khalid faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism and intent to cause an explosion.
Jahmaaal James:
The 23-year-old was described as being "just a normal guy" by his father.
James recently moved into an east-Toronto townhouse with his father and paternal grandmother, his father, a West Indies native told the Globe.
After graduating from a Scarborough-area high school, James worked several part-time jobs but was unemployed at the time of his arrest.
James, who regularly prayed at the Salaheddin Islamic Centre, recently married a woman in Pakistan but she remained there.
James faces two charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group and receiving training in terrorism.
CTV.ca News Staff
Details are starting to emerge about the lives of the suspected Islamic terrorists who were taken into custody in a series of southern Ontario raids.
No details are available about the five suspects who are under the age of 18, whose identities are concealed under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act. However, sources have told the Toronto Star some attended the same high school.
One interesting fact is this: Only six of the 12 adults have been charged with intending to cause an explosion: Fahim Ahmad, Zakaria Amara, Asad Ansari, Shareef Abdelhaleem, Quayyum Abdul Jamal and Saad Khalid.
Fahim Ahmad:
Ahmad is a 21-year-old devout Muslim man from east-end Toronto.
Friends say he had a reputation as a friendly person who played basketball with a group of teens every Friday and never missed prayer at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto in Scarborough.
He is said to have become friends with two other suspects -- Saad Khalid and Zakaria Amara -- at Mississauga's Meadowvale Secondary School.
Ahmad faces five charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity, receiving training in terrorism, providing training in terrorism, intent to cause an explosion.
Shareef Abdelhaleen:
The 30-year-old unmarried son of an engineer who immigrated to Canada from Egypt 20 years ago. A neighbour told the Toronto Star that the computer programmer lived at his Mississauga home for about four years.
He is said to be still recovering from a heart operation he had in April.
Abdelhaleen faces two charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group and intent to cause an explosion.
Qayyum Abdul Jamal:
The 43-year-old father of four boys is married to a Canadian woman who converted to Islam.
Neighbours said the Karachi-native drove a school bus and was an active member of his Mississauga, Ont., community where he lived in a townhouse. According to the Star, Jamal's first wife died a few years ago of an unknown illness.
Jamal was considered something of a role model for teenagers at the Ar-Rahman Islamic Centre in Mississauga, the same strip mall mosque that six of his co-accused attended.
The devout Muslim was also known for his fiery rhetoric at the mosque where he also volunteered as a caretaker and sometimes led prayers.
In one public confrontation at the mosque, Jamal who was supposed to introduce federal MP Wajid Khan, attacked the Canadian military's mission in Afghanistan.
"He said Canadian troops were (in Afghanistan) to rape Muslim women," federal MP Wajid Khan told CTV News, recalling the year-old incident.
"That's exactly where I stopped him and said, 'don't talk nonsense'."
One of the mosque's board members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Globe and Mail a few parents barred their children from attending the mosque because they were worried about his mounting influence.
Jamal faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training with a terrorist group, intent to cause an explosion.
Mohammed Dirie:
The 22-year-old landed immigrant is currently serving a two-year sentence in a Kingston, Ont. jail for attempting to smuggle a gun across the American border.
He pleaded guilty last October, saying he had bought the gun for his protection.
Also known as Ali Dirie, he came to Canada from Somalia at the age of seven.
The Star reports Dirie previously worked as a carpenter but wanted to go to college to become an X-ray technician.
Dirie faces two counts: Knowingly of participating in a terrorist group as well as charges of importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity.
Yasim Abdi Mohamed:
Currently serving a two-year sentence on weapons-smuggling charges at the same jail as Dirie for attempting to bring a gun across the U.S. border.
He was born in Somalia and immigrated to Canada when he was 7 along with his younger brother and parents.
The family lived in Cambridge before moving to Toronto nearly five years ago.
The 24-year-old lived in his mother's Toronto home before his arrest.
His mother Asha Muhyadin recounted a conversation she had with her son soon after his parole hearing last year.
"Mummy, they are changing my story around. They want to know about terrorism," he told her.
He said that the officers questioned him about terrorism and links to al Qaeda instead of asking how he came to possess a gun, the Star reported.
Mohamed faces two counts: Knowingly participating in a terrorist group and importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity.
Amin Mohamed Durrani:
Described as friendly and cheerful by younger brother Ibrahim, the 19-year-old was not well known among his neighbours.
Ibrahim told the Star his brother used to disappear for weeks at a time.
"I heard he was going to some camp," he said. "But I don't know anything about it."
He said that Durrani and his friends would reappear usually with gifts in tow.
"They brought me a lot of stuff, like army suits and caps," he said. "Sometimes, he'll go get pizza."
Durrani faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism, providing training in terrorism.
Steven Vikash Chand:
A recent Muslim convert, the 25-year-old also went by the name of Abdul Shakur. A member of his mosque said Chand attended Salaheddin Islamic Centre two to three times a week.
Chand moved into a basement suite near his mosque about six months ago.
The homeowner told the Star that Chand had just started a job at a nearby shawarma shop at the time of his arrest.
According to the Globe and Mail, Chand regularly distributed reading material about Islam at local public schools, encouraging youths to accept God.
Chand faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism, providing training in terrorism.
Ahmad Mustafa Ghany:
Ghany is a recent health sciences graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton.
The 21-year-old is the son of a urologist who immigrated to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago more than 40 years ago.
Ghany spent his early years in Saudi Arabia where his father was hired at the King Saud University as a medical professor and consultant.
When the Ghany family's eldest son died, they sold their Brampton home and left the country temporarily, the Globe reports.
While abroad, they bought a Mississauga home and rented it out.
When they returned to Canada during the first Gulf War, Dr. Ghany and his wife Umaima Ghany took on a prominent role in Mississauga' Islamic community.
According to the Star, Ghany is the brother-in-law of another suspect, Zakaria Amara.
Ghany faces two charges: faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group and receiving training in terrorism.
Zakaria Amara:
The 20-year-old man moved into his mother-in-law's Mississauga, Ont., home last week where he planned to live with his wife and their eight-month-old daughter.
His wife told the Globe he was going to school and working in a gas station.
According to the Star -- another suspect -- Ahmad Mustafa Ghany is Amara's brother-in-law.
Ghany is said to be married to Amara's wife's sister.
He is said to have become friends with two other suspects -- Fahim Ahmad and Saad Khalid -- at Mississauga's Meadowvale Secondary School.
Amara faces four charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism, providing training in terrorism, intent to cause an explosion.
Asad Ansari:
Few details are available about the 21-year-old who lived in Mississauga with a family of four or five people. Neighbours told reporters the family moved into the home about two years ago.
Ansari faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism and intent to cause an explosion.
Saad Khalid:
The 19-year-old is said to be a business student at the University of Toronto's' Mississauga campus.
When he attended a mosque, he went to Mississauga's Al-Rahman Islamic Centre for Islamic Education, the same mosque attended by the eldest suspect, a relative told Globe.
Khalid, who moved to Canada from Pakistan when he was 8, told his parents he was attending a job fair in Toronto on the day police stormed his parents' townhouse.
The Star reports Khalid created the "Religious Awareness Club in high school, where he would preach Islam during the lunch break.
He is said to have become friends with two other suspects -- Fahim Ahmad and Zakaria Amara -- at Mississauga's Meadowvale Secondary School.
Khalid faces three charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, receiving training in terrorism and intent to cause an explosion.
Jahmaaal James:
The 23-year-old was described as being "just a normal guy" by his father.
James recently moved into an east-Toronto townhouse with his father and paternal grandmother, his father, a West Indies native told the Globe.
After graduating from a Scarborough-area high school, James worked several part-time jobs but was unemployed at the time of his arrest.
James, who regularly prayed at the Salaheddin Islamic Centre, recently married a woman in Pakistan but she remained there.
James faces two charges: Knowingly participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group and receiving training in terrorism.
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