Commission des ibérations Page 2 ‘onditionnelles du Canada PROTECTED WHEN COMPLETED Personal Information Bank PAC-CLCC PPU 00S PAROLE BOARD OF CANADA DECISION OFFENDER INFORMATION : Name: AHMAD, FAHIM res: Institution: [RY INSTITUTION FILE NO “TYPE OF REVIEW: DETENTION: (PANEL) PANEL INFORMATION: OBSERVER (S) PRESENT (except during deliberations) : YES ASSISTANT PRESENT: NO EXCLUDED FROM PART OF HEARING : NO ELDER /ADVISOR No REASON FINAL DECISIONS : z DETENTION DETENTION ORDER CONFIRMED 2017-05-26 LEAVE PRIVILEGES : NOT APPLICABLE ‘SPECIAL CONDITIONS : NOT APPLICABLE PREVIOUSLY IMPOSED SPECIAL CONDITION(S) STILL IN EFFECT : NOT APPLICABLE ‘THE OFFENDER : NOT APPLICABLE "NEW INFORMATION SHARED Wi "REASONS FOR DECISION(S) : The Parole Board of Canada (the Board) conducted a hearing with you to make a decision in regards to confirming your Detention Order. In making a decision regarding your Detention Order, the Board shall determine whether there is sufficient new information to justify modifying the order or making @ new order. The Board has determined that there is not sufficient new information to justify modifying the order or making @ new order and confirms your detention order. In reaching this decision, the Board has taken into consideration all of your file information, the recommendation from the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) as well as your presentation today, and that of your institutional parole officer. You are a 32 year old first time federal offender serving seven years and three months for Participation in Activity of Terrorist Group; Instruct Carry Out Activity for Terrorist Group; and Commission of Offence for a Terrorist Group. You were originally ordered detained until your Warrant Expiry Date (WED) in a decision of the Board dated April 16, 2015. In their decision, the os Name : AHMAD, FAHIM Decision Accessed Pec ae OH ONS No Exemptions Applied VERS (10) abies Bpelled Page 2 of 6 Date and Time Locked: 2017-05-30 14:06 Date: 2017-05-30“ Timeis based ona 24-Hour Ciock PodBoerd Commission des ibgrations Page 3 Conditionselies du Canade PROTECTED WHEN COMPLETED Personal Information Bank PBC-CLCC PPU 005 Board stated that your answers to their questions were vague and you placed blame for your actions on others. They felt you showed a lack of coping strategies as well as an inability to understand or identify your risk factors. Your release plan was viewed as unreliable and not viable. Your detention order was confirmed by the Board on May 25, 2016. Prior to being ordered detained, you had been denied full parole in a decision of the Board dated September 24, 2014. Your most recent psychological risk assessment took place in October 2016. At that time, the psychologist stated that, based on scales specifically designed to measure extremism and/or terrorism, he assessed you to be a moderate to low-moderate risk for committing another offence related to terrorism. He went on to say that conventional institutional programming would not hold much value for you, and that a more suitable intervention would focus on “targeting thought distortions, beliefs, ideologies, attitudes and attributions that promote jihad and countering extreme ideologies with other ideologies that are not religiously-based". He went on to say that such an intervention must be “professionally designed and utilize the services of a team of trained counsellors”, adding that, “staff involved must have the expertise and be well-versed in the culture, history, values, and religious background and have a thorough understanding of issues specifically related to middle-eastem terrorism.” He concluded his report by stating that ifhwhen you are granted release, your intemet access will need to be closely monitored and limited to only what is necessary for your college courses, and added that your associations will also need to be very closely monitored. He suggested that you should be encouraged to achieve your goals of attending college, working full ime, and, if possible, reuniting with your family. Since your most recent hearing, your institutional behaviour has continued to be acceptable. You have not incurred any institutional charges with only two minor incidents noted. The first was the discovery of a possible brew substance being found in your cell. You stated that it was not brew but just leftover juice that had fermented. It did test positive for alcohol. Since substance abuse is not a factor in your case, this explanation was considered plausible. The other incident was the discovery of a Toronto Star newspaper article found in your cell with the headline: “Domestic Recruits Eager to Die for the Cause”. You explained that the article was one of a series of newspaper articles you had obtained from the library when you were searching for a particular series for which you had been interviewed. Your parole officer did confirm this information at your hearing and advised that she did provide you a copy of the information you were looking for. Overall, your behaviour is described as respectful and you have apparently used your time while incarcerated to make somie positive changes in your life. You appear to be building on the gains noted in the Board's May 2016 decision, in spite of you not having the benefit of any formal programming. You have been subject to one random urinalysis test, in February 2016, which retumed negative for any drug use. Your parents and your children have participated in Private Family Visits with you, the most recent one being in September 2016. Your plan, if granted statutory release, is to reside at the Salvation Army community-based residential facility (CRF) in the Toronto area and they are supportive of this. While residing at this CRF, you would be expected to abide by a 2100 curfew and to engage in productive activities, Monday through Friday between the hours of 0800 and 1600. They are not supportive of any overnight leave at this time. Staff at the CRF will offer you guidance with employment, financial management, and relationships and will monitor you for any signs of criminal attitudes, associates, or activity. Your parents are supportive and have offered to provide financial and emotional support to you in the community. They have taken the time to visit the CRF and meet with the staff there and expressed their full support for the special conditions being recommended by CSC. Your case management team (CMT), in response to the recommendations made in the psychological risk assessment in regards to programming specific to your risk, have met with an Imam who was working with you during your incarceration. He informed your CMT that a community organization committed to working with members of the Muslim community has been involved in working with others convicted of terrorism offences and has been able to tailor one on ms “Name “AHMAD, FAHIM Fle No CD PEC (03) ONS VERS (10) Page 3 of 6 Date and Time Locked: 2017-06-30 14:06 “Time fe based on @24-Hour Cock PeriodPage 4 PROTECTED WHEN COMPLETED Personal formation Bank PBC-CLCC PU 005 one work on counter radicalization measures. The program is built on mentorship and trust and the organization's associates take time to work with individuals to effectively challenge their thinking. The Imam is also prepared to offer you one on one counselling and/or programming. CSC is recommending the Board grant a one chance statutory release with residency. Should the Board grant a one chance statutory release, CSC is recommending special conditions be imposed (on your release requiring you to adhere to a restriction on computer use, avoid associating with anyone you know or have reason to believe is involved in criminal activity, report relationships, seek employment or remain employed, follow a treatment plan, and reside at a specific place. At your hearing, the Board discussed with you in great detail the circumstances of what led to your offences and the direction you chose to take in your teens. You provided the Board with similar information to that which was provided in your Criminal Profile, that you had few people to talk to, that your parents were unavailable as they worked long hours and that you had become interested in your Muslim religion. During the Board's questioning, it became evident that you did become ‘aware of how you became the individual that had planned the offences related to your offending, ‘When asked if this was a type of revenge for how you were treated by your peers after the terrorist attack on 9-11, you denied it. You advised the Board that your group of friends noted that you ‘were not joining them in regular activities and advised you that when ready, you would be welcome. twas brought to your attention that there were differences in how you provided information to the Psychologist who was an expert in the field of terrorism and radicalization in an assessment dated October 20, 2016 and the information you were providing to the Board. You separated the religious aspects from the political aspects. Another difference was with regard to the offences themselves and, most importantly, your role in them. When challenged by the Board that you ‘appeared to minimize your role and misstate the aim of your terrorist group to the psychologist (training to fight overseas, as opposed to admission to the Board today of an intent to use terror to change Canada's policy on troop deployments to Afghanistan), you equivocated between the two positions to the point that it became unclear which one you truly believed, leading the Board to ‘conclude that you were telling the Board and the psychologist what you felt at the time each wanted to hear. This indicated a continuation of your ability to use deception and manipulation to further your own ends, consistent with your offence cycle. You also attempted to blame the Confidential Informant inserted by the RCMP into your terrorist group for influencing you to think of attacking such targets as Canadian Forces Bases, claiming that you previously did not even know that "CFB" is the acronym for same. This shows a continuation of your efforts to blame others for your actions, which the Board took exception to in its April, 2015 decision You did tell the Board that have you read the Quran and have since changed your views. You admitted to the psychologist that now you are prepared to fight against ISIS, showing the Board that you are still very involved in the same mindset as you were when this began noting simply that you have just changed sides, You tried to minimize the meaning of this statement today, by explaining that you did not mean "fight" by way of armed struggle, but in the nature of denouncing and exposing ISIS and others whom you now believe misstate Islam for political reasons. When you stated to the Board that when one thinks of ISIS, one thinks of a blade against a throat, you were hard pressed to provide a distinction between that image and the one you chose to attempt in planning to behead the then Prime Minister of Canada. When the Board put to you that a reasonable person reading the use of the word "fight" by a convicted terrorist in the context of Islamic terrorism, and in the context of an explanation of his view of his own change on the point of terrorism, would presume the meaning of armed struggle, you had no real response. You also pointed out that you are still from Afghanistan. The minimization, equivocation, and continued attempts to deceive and manipulate do not allow rs ‘Name : AHMAD, FAHIM Fle No mms (C2> PCB (14-03) ONS ——————— — VERS (10) Page 4 of 6 ‘Date and Time Locked: 2017-05-30 14:06 “Tem fs bated on 8.24-Hour Clack PeriodJe Board Commission des tibérations Page 5 Condlonneles du Canaca PROTECTED WHEN COMPLETED Personal information Bank PBC-CLCC PPU 005, the Board to conclude that there has been any, let alone sufficient, change in your risk in the last year to do other than confirm the detention order. Regarding, the plan that has been put in place for you in the community for which you are being supported, should the Board grant the recommended one chance statutory release, it would involve a release to the Salvation Army Community Residential Facility, where you would meet with the Imam who is familiar with you through the Risalah Foundation and who, together with other appropriate persons associated with the Foundation, would work with you to enhance your social, intellectual, and spiritual well-being. This organization has worked with individuals convicted of similar offences to yours in the past and would be able to provide one-on-one work on counter radicalization measures. Itis further noted that this program takes time to work with an individual to effectively challenge their thinking. In terms of addressing your risk, the Board notes that you have not participated fully in this type of process, through no fault of your own as it does not yet exist as a CSC program, nor is there any information that has been provided to the Board in terms of the discussions that did take place in this regard or any progress that was made. As well, the Board notes that one of the central pieces to the program and to your release plan was that any attendances by you at mosques would be only with pre-approval of CSC. However, when questioned by the Board as to how any non-Arabic speaker or outsider to Islam and related culture(s) would truly know what discussions you were involved in, or even which mosques were pro social and which were not, which the Board put to you in terms of it not being as if there were signs on the outside of mosques indicating this distinction, you quipped that there were signs, “just ‘not in English". This answer is of grave concern to the Board. It implies, if true, that you believe you can deceive those supervising you and attempt to frequent the very type of religious discussions which spurred your terrorism in the first instance. If not true, it shows a level of immaturity in making such a remark that seriously undermines any apparent gains you made have made while incarcerated. If false, itis a stander of Istam and its houses of worship of the very type which you appear to now denounce in having brought you to the penitentiary. The Board also notes that the proposed plan to support your release and manage the risk you present in the community is not even certain to come into being. CSC was frank in noting that there is, as yet, no agreement on funding of the plan, and there was no alternative plan put forward if you were to be released and this plan not be put into action. In weighing the positive and negative aspects of your file, and after speaking with you at length about your views, your beliefs and any changes you have made, including information that indicates significant progress has been made, the Board is satisfied that there is no new information that justifies modifying your detention order or making a new order. Accordingly, the Board confirms your Detention Order. DECISION(S) AND VOTES: — rE: DETENTION DETENTION ORDER 2017-05-26 CONFIRMED Board Member Vote Vote Date [KENNY.M DETENTION ORDER CONFIRMED 2017-05-26 NETTIE, S DETENTION ORDER CONFIRMED 2017-05-26 7 Tae AAD, Fa No ms CD aC a (a-05) ONS — — — ‘VERS (10) Page 5of6 ‘Date and Time Locked: 2017-05-30 14:06 ‘Tine i based on a 24-Hour Clock Period