Hassan Farhat

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Hassan Farhat (Arabic : حسن فرحات) (Born in Tal Afar, Iraq, also known as Abdul Jabbar, [1] Abu Ossama, [1] and Abu Khalid) is an Iraqi Imam who founded Salaheddin Mosque in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Contents

However, he was made persona non grata by the worship centre's administration, and was allowed to return only for worship. [2] After returning to Iraq in 2001, he was accused of being a "top Ansar commander" by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. [3] Other sources have accused him of belonging to Egyptian Islamic Jihad. [4]

Life in Canada

After becoming a landed immigrant in Canada, Farhat lived on Eglinton East, [2] [5] but faced constant difficulty trying to obtain full citizenship, since Canadian Security Intelligence Service was wary of his connections to Egyptian Islamic Jihad. [2]

In 1996, Farhat met Mahmoud Jaballah (an Egyptian who has been detained in Canada due to his association with members of al-Jihad but denies any wrongdoing [6] ) at the Medina Mosque in Toronto, and helped him find a local apartment and learn English. [4] [7] [8] Farhat introduced Jaballah to Ali Hussein, [9] and later moved to Winnipeg, Montreal and then back to Toronto. [7] The National Post describes him as one of the founders of the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in Toronto. [10]

It was at Farhat's apartment in Montreal, following the birth of his child, that Jaballah and Mustafa Krer had their only Montreal meeting. [11] Jaballah also visited him in Winnipeg, and phoned him 41 times, [12] [13] once telling him that Kassem Daher would appreciate any religious audiocassettes that Farhat and Jaballah could send him. [8]

Farhat and Daher also spoke to each other, with Farhat once being recorded on a wiretapped call saying he admired the terrorist Omar Abdel Rahman so much that ""he puts the whole world on one scale and ‘the blind one’ on the other, because he was so precious". [8] On February 14, 1997, Mustafa Krer spoke to a companion and referred to Farhat as a man with funds "for the cause". [8]

Return to Iraq

Upset that he was unable to receive Canadian citizenship, the ethnic Turkomen returned to Iraq in October 2001. [2] [5] When Saeed Rasoul, another member of Salaheddin Mosque, returned to the following year there were allegations that Farhat had convinced him to come join Ansar al-Islam. [2]

Osman Ali, an 18-year-old member of Ansar al-Islam detained in prison in Sulaymaniya, spoke to reporter Sandro Contenta from the Toronto Star in March 2003. He told her that his commander was Farhat, and that he told his group that he left Canada because the police accused him of having ties to al Qaeda. [2] It was later alleged that he commanded Al-Aqsa Battalion, a group of 80 militants and six suicide bombers. [7] [8] or alternatively that he led the Yahia Ayash Battalion of the same strength. [1]

He was captured in 2003 by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. [7]

On March 7, 2005, he and Saeed Rasoul were named by CSIS Director Jim Judd in remarks to the Senate of Canada, that Farhat "is believed to be a key commander and ideologue with" Ansar al-Islam and that Saeed was "believed to be a member". [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Khadr</span> Canadian citizen with alleged al-Qaeda ties (1948–2003)

Ahmed Saïd Khadr was an Egyptian-Canadian with alleged ties to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His activity in Afghanistan began in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and he has been described as having had ties to a number of militants within the Afghan mujahideen, including Saudi militant Osama bin Laden. Khadr was accused by Canada and the United States of being a "senior associate" and financier of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Mahmoud Es-Sayyid Jaballah is an Egyptian who has been detained in Canada without charge on a "security certificate" since August 2001 due to his association with members of al-Jihad. He has consistently asserted that he does not believe in violence, and just because he phones or visits people, does not mean that he shares their beliefs.

Mohammed Zeki Mahjoub is an Egyptian national who was arrested in May 2000 on a security certificate for his alleged membership in the Vanguards of Conquest.

Hani Mohammed Yusuf al-Siba'i is an Egyptian Islamic scholar who was a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and now lives in London as a political refugee. Efforts to deport him have failed. He is a supporter of al-Qaeda and is used as a scholarly reference by the movement. The leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, listed him as one of four scholars that Muslims worldwide should follow, alongside Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, Abu Qatada and Dr. Tariq Abdelhaleem.

Adel Mohammed Abdel Magid Abdel Bari is an Egyptian terrorist.

Kassem Daher, born in Bekaa, Lebanon, is a Lebanese-Canadian accused of membership in a number of Islamic militant groups.

Muayyed Nureddin is an Iraqi-born Canadian geologist who was imprisoned and tortured in Syria after being arrested in December 2003. After a public inquiry in 2008 and then pursuing a civil litigation for nearly ten years, in July 2017, Nureddin and two other torture victims settled their claims with the Canadian government.

Saeed Sobrahatollah Muhammad Rasoul and Masoud Rasoul are Kurdistani-Canadian brothers who are alleged members of the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam. Former worshippers at Salaheddin Mosque, it is alleged they may have been recruited to fight in Iraq by Hassan Farhat. They went missing in northern Iraq in 2003.

The Vanguards of Conquest is a terrorist organization that was originally founded in 1993 as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad operating in Somalia but became a separate faction that eventually folded back into the group under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The revived group is currently led by Magdy Salem. The group has intervened to stop jihadis in the Sinai Peninsula from attacking Israel.

A Libyan-Canadian, Mustafa Mohammed Krer left Libya in 1989, following the arrest of his brother al-Mukhtar Muhammad Krer. While living in Montreal, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) accused him of being a former leader of Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and he was arrested in Libya in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salaheddin Islamic Centre</span> Mosque in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Salaheddin Islamic Centre is a mosque located in the Scarborough district of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada noted for its outspoken Imam Aly Hindy.

Amr Mohamed Hamed was a Canadian who died in the American bombing of an Afghan training camp on August 20, 1998, as retaliation for the African embassy bombings.

An Egyptian resident of British Columbia, Essam Hafez Mohammed Marzouk arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1993 as a refugee fleeing persecution in Pakistan. He was one of 14 people subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA prior to the 2001 declaration of a war on terror. Marzouk was the contact point for a bin Laden terrorist cell in Canada.

Saeed Sayyed Salama was arrested in June 1998, accused of membership in al-Jihad, as he was crossing into Egypt from Yemen. Other sources say he was arrested June 1, 1998 in Saudi Arabia.

Ahmad Salama Mabruk, known as Abu Faraj al-Masri, was a senior leader in the Syrian militant group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and was previously a leader in Jabhat al-Nusra and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad militant groups. He was present alongside Abu Muhammad al-Julani at the announcement of the creation of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. He was one of 14 people subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA before the 2001 declaration of a War on Terror.

Thirwat Salah Shehata is a core member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Married to the sister of Mahmoud Jaballah, Shehata served as Jaballah's lawyer in Egypt.

Takfir wal-Hijra, was the popular name given to a radical Islamist group Jama'at al-Muslimin founded by Shukri Mustafa which emerged in Egypt in the 1960s as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Although the group was crushed by Egyptian security forces after it murdered an Islamic scholar and former government minister in 1977, it is said to have "left an enduring legacy" taken up by some Islamist radicals in "subsequent years and decades."

Mohamed Mahmoud, known as Abu Usama al-Gharib, was an Austrian Islamic militant and a senior leader in the Islamic State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula</span> Militant jihadist organization

Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, or AQSP, was an Egyptian militant jihadist organization possibly formed by a merger between al-Qaeda operatives in Sinai and Ansar al Jihad. It was Al-Qaeda's branch in the Sinai peninsula, and is composed of many Al-Qaeda factions in the area. AQSP made international headlines in November 2014 when the organization pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in a nine-minute audio speech released on Twitter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hesham Ashmawy</span> Egyptian terrorist who previously was an Egyptian Army officer

Hesham Ali Ashmawy Mos'ad Ibrahim was a convicted terrorist who previously was an Egyptian Army officer, suspected by the government of having orchestrated and been involved in a number of terrorist attacks on security targets and state institutions, including the 2014 Farafra ambush and the 2015 assassination of Prosecutor general Hisham Barakat.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hamilton, Dwight. "Terror Threat: International and Homegrown terrorists and their threat to Canada", 2007
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Shephard, Michelle and Tonda MacCharles. Toronto Star, "Mosque founder tied to terror group", March 9, 2005
  3. ↑ Contenta, Sandro. Toronto Star, "Toronto men in terror riddle", March 14, 2003
  4. 1 2 CTV, Jaballah denies links to terrorist groups [ dead link ], July 11, 2006
  5. 1 2 Cribb, Robert. Toronto Star, "Four terrorism suspects linked to local mosque", March 15, 2003
  6. ↑ Met top al-Qaeda figure just for tea, Egyptian says [ permanent dead link ], The Globe and Mail , May 26, 2006
  7. 1 2 3 4 MacLeon, Ian. Ottawa Citizen, "The warning lights were all blinking red Archived 2008-09-25 at the Wayback Machine ", February 23, 2008
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah [ permanent dead link ], February 22, 2008
  9. ↑ Hanes, Allison. CanWest, Jaballah claims purely innocent dealings with other terror suspects Archived 2012-11-04 at the Wayback Machine , July 12, 2006
  10. ↑ Bell, Stewart (16 February 2012). "Toronto's million-dollar 'radical mosque'". National Post. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  11. ↑ Hanes, Allison. National Post, "Jaballah claims purely innocent dealings with other terror suspects Archived 2012-11-04 at the Wayback Machine , July 12, 2006
  12. ↑ MCI et al. v. Mahmoud Jaballah, DES-4-01, Transcript of Proceedings, September 13, 2005, pp. 710 to 714; September 14, 2005, pp. 771, 773-774.
  13. ↑ MCI et al. v. Mahmoud Jaballah, DES-04-01 Transcript of Proceedings, July 11, 2006, pp. 884-907, July 13, 2006, pp. 1018-1022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.