http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2014/Apr/5 ... hears.aspx
A Toronto security guard on trial for allegedly attempting to join the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabab testified Monday he wanted to move to a Muslim country because of the discrimination he suffered in Canada, but insisted he did not support terrorism.
“I felt that throughout my time in Canada I felt a lot of discrimination, whether because I’m black or I’m Muslim,” Mohamed Hassan Hersi said. “I felt that if I lived in a Muslim country, I probably would not experience Islamophobia.”
Sometimes he just talked nonsense
In his testimony, Mr. Hersi said he was born in Mogadishu and, during a visit to the United States, he came to Canada with his mother to claim refugee status. His father, who worked at the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia, died before he could join the family in Toronto.
While growing up at a Toronto Community Housing Corp. apartment building, he said he was regularly discriminated against, and described seeing police harassing blacks and Muslims. “I have sort of a love hate relationship with the police,” he said. “I love to hate them, they love to hate me.”
After studying at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus, he wanted to become fluent in Arabic, he said. He planned to spend six to 12 months in Cairo, return to Canada for graduate studies and then move to a Muslim country such as Egypt or Turkey.
But he said he had never had any contact with Al-Shabab. He acknowledged accepting a friend request on Facebook from Abdurahman Guled, an alleged Al-Shabab member. But he said they had been friends in high school and he was not sure Mr. Guled was in Al-Shabab. “I thought he was, but I really don’t know.”
The case is the first attempt to prosecute a Canadian for allegedly attempting to travel abroad to join a terrorist group. The National Post revealed this week the RCMP has set up a program to track and disrupt “high risk travelers” preparing to leave the country.
