Calgary teen who posted pro-ISIS, anti-LGBTQ content placed on terrorism peace bond
A Calgary teenager who posted pro-ISIS, anti-LGBTQ content to social media has been placed on a terrorism peace bond, bringing to an end the court cases stemming from a major RCMP national security investigation.
The boy, who was 16 years old at the time of his arrest in December 2023, cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. CBC News will identify him as AB for this story.
AB was the third teen and fourth person to be arrested in 2023 as part of the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) investigation.
All four court cases were run by federal prosecutors Kent Brown and Domenic Puglia.
Over the past 14 months, the two other youths — who were 15 and 17 at the time of their arrests — were also placed on terrorism peace bonds.
A terrorism peace bond allows for court-ordered conditions to monitor and manage a person’s risk to the community and to ensure their behaviour does not escalate.
Zakarya Rida Hussein, who was the only adult charged in the investigation, received a six-year prison sentence in September after pleading guilty to facilitating terrorist activity.
The investigation revealed that the four participated in group chats and social media posts, including to Snapchat and TikTok, where they shared pro-ISIS content such as recruitment videos and clips of gay men being executed.
An RCMP threat assessment determined that while the teen is a low risk to commit a terrorism attack on Canadians, he is a high risk to join an extremist group given he is “extremely impressionable” and susceptible to influence and coercion.
On Thursday, Justice Todd LaRochelle imposed a number of conditions that AB must abide by for 12 months in order to comply with his peace bond.
The teen must stay away from social media and chat groups and he cannot access or possess any material relating to a terrorist group.
He must participate in a terrorism intervention program and engage in therapy.
And he must stay away from LGBTQ events.
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