In the video, the man is wearing an orange jumpsuit. It is the favoured uniform that ISIS uses for their prisoners. The man is dangling from a pole in a desert somewhere.
Lots of people were killed by ISIS, the Islamic State, in front of high-definition cameras, wearing orange jumpsuits. In many of the ISIS snuff films — like the ones showing the beheading of American freelance journalist James Foley, Time magazine writer Steven Sotloff and British aid worker Alan Henning — there would be some reference to a news event, to establish its date. The location would often be somewhere in the desert.
The victims, kneeling and wearing the Guantanamo-style coveralls, would read a statement given to them by ISIS. Masked ISIS terrorists would always be standing behind the men. One of the terrorists would typically make some statement, too, railing against Israel and America and the West. Then, the terrorists would grab the victim, holding him down, while another terrorist would behead him, using a long-bladed knife. All on camera.
In the June 2015 ISIS video obtained by the authorities and shared this week by great reporters at Global News, Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, is allegedly seen holding a sword — which he then uses to hack away at the limbs of the man. We don’t know if the man is dead, but it seems likely.
The victim’s assailant is in a black robe and a head covering bearing the ISIS logo, and his face is briefly visible. The ISIS video was titled “Deterring Spies.” Eldidi has been charged by Canadian police with an aggravated assault outside Canada, but it’s unclear whether it relates to the atrocity shown in the video.
What is clear, however, is that Eldidi and his 26-year-old son Mostafa were this week charged in Toronto with multiple terrorism-related offences, allegedly because they were planning a mass-casualty attack using machetes and axes.
Also clear: the two Eldidis weren’t born here. Nobody is saying exactly when, but they moved to Canada at some point. Perhaps after the elder Eldidi allegedly was filmed lopping off someone’s body parts, perhaps before. But it all raises an important question, doesn’t it?
Why were alleged ISIS terrorists allowed into Canada? And, now that we’re on the subject, why are not quite a few others — the ones possibly shooting up Jewish schools, firebombing synagogues, blocking major highways near Jewish neighbourhoods, and issuing death threats, more or less publicly, to Jews — still here? Why don’t we, you know, kick out those who are a risk to national security, and who are convicted of breaking laws? Why not deport them?
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When Ben Mulroney and I asked that question on an AM 640 Toronto radio show back in the fall, there was a great hue and cry. It was racist, some said. It was fascist, they said. It is something that should never be the law in Canada, addled progressives thundered.
Except, well, it already is.
If someone is found guilty of a serious crime, their information gets sent to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA will then start the process of deporting that person once their permanent resident status is revoked. Foreign nationals have no right to appeal deportation orders either. It doesn’t matter how long they were here.
Permanent residents, protected persons: if they get even the least-serious spell in jail — six months, say, a summary offence — they can lose the right to appeal. And, so long.
Every other Western nation approaches this in the same way: if you’re not yet a full citizen, and you break some laws, you are very likely to be deported. Even if you’re a permanent resident, and — again — you’ve been granted the right to stay here permanently? You can still be kicked out.
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In Canada’s Criminal Code, a political or religious act whose intention is “intimidating the public, or a segment of the public, with regard to its security” is considered terrorism and is very, very serious. There are many other terrorism-related sections in the Code. Any one of them merits swift deportation once an alleged terrorist has been convicted, and exhausted their appeals.
So, as we await the legal system to deal with Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi, it’s a fair question to ask the Justin Trudeau government, or any government that preceded Trudeau’s: why does this keep happening? Why are you not exercising your judgment and using the laws that are already on the books to remove people who want to kill the rest of us?
Don’t hold your breath waiting for an answer. This is the government that recently announced it is handing out 5,000 visas to people from Gaza. And this is the government whose own Minister of Immigration used one word to describe that plan to grant asylum to Gazans.
“Failure.”