Canadian mosque reportedly advising members how to join Jihad

Adil Charkaoui, a Canadian with alleged ties to al-Qaeda, is once again in the spotlight as family members of students that attend his Assahaba mosque are reporting that students are receiving instructions on how to travel abroad to engage in jihad at the mosque. The guidelines reportedly include travel and finance advice, and advice on how to appear unsuspicious to government officials. These allegations are the most recent of a slew of suspicions that Charkaoui is engaging in jihadist indoctrination at his mosque and Islamic Community Center.

Charkaoui’s background was anything but pristine since the late 1990’s, when Canadian intelligence analysts first suspected him of being involved with al-Qaeda. In 2003, Charkaoui was arrested on a national security certificate under suspicions of his involvement in the Millennium Bomb Plot, and after years of denying any connections to terrorist organizations, the certificate was declared void in 2009.

The Canadian Boarder Security Agency reported last year that at least 130 Canadians have fled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside jihadist militants. In recent months, more and more cases have emerged from Quebec of young adults attempting or successfully leaving Canada to wage jihad. Most recently, ten Québécois were detained in the midst of attempting to travel to Syria. Families of these suspects are those reporting that the individuals were provided instructions in Charkaoui’s mosque. Furthermore, at least nine individuals that have become involved with jihadist movements have been linked to Charkaoui, his mosque, or his community center.

Since allegations of Charkaoui preaching jihad arose earlier this year, he has consistently denied any wrongdoing. A father of a Québécois teenager has accused Charkaoui of shifting his daughter’s views to those more aligned with a jihadist point of view when she began attending his Assahaba mosque two years ago. Charkaoui responded to the accusation by claiming he did not know the girl because thousands of people come and go in the mosque. Charkaoui has furthered his denials, claiming to be the victim of a “witch-hunt,” and that he is against all violence and blames Canadian society for violent jihad, and declared anyone who criticized him of being Islamophobic.

It’s certainly possible that there are additional suspects involved in the indoctrination and training taking place out of Charkaoui’s mosque and community center, other than just Charkaoui himself, but given his history, the Canadian government should take a hard look at what role he may have played in facilitating such activity. The Québécois and Canadian governments have been criticized for standing on the sidelines when it comes to investigating Charkaoui’s alleged recruitment, while the number of indoctrinated Canadian Muslims seeking to join fighting in Iraq and Syria continues to rise. It is essential for Canadian officials to step up and take necessary precautions to end indoctrination and recruitment networks.