The architect of an Al Qaeda-inspired terror plot to cripple Canada's economy and unleash mass carnage by blowing up buildings in downtown Toronto has been sentenced to life in prison."The potential for loss of life existed on a scale never before seen in Canada," said Justice Bruce Durno, while sentencing Zakaria Amara, one of the linchpins of the Toronto 18 terror cell and mastermind of a "spine-chilling" plot. "Had the plan been implemented, it would've changed the lives of many, if not all Canadians, forever," Durno told the Brampton court, saying this is one of those "rarest of cases" where the maximum sentence is appropriate, even for a young first offender.
The sentence is the stiffest ever given under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which was introduced after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. The 24-year-old Mississauga man will be eligible for parole in six years and three months. If he is ever granted parole, he will be subject to a lifetime of monitoring.
At a hearing last week, Amara told the court he was sorry and deserved nothing less than "absolute contempt" from the Canadian people, whose trust he vowed to regain. "I just want to reassure you that whatever promises I made, I will still try my best," said Amara, as his wife, mother and sister looked on from the body of the court.
Among other things, Amara confessed to leading a terrorist training camp, researching ways to build a bomb, ordering the necessary chemicals and building a remote-controlled detonator. He planned to detonate three one-tonne truck bombs, made with ammonium nitrate, outside the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Front St. offices of Canada's spy agency and a military base off Highway 401. To maximize casualties, he wanted to place metal chips in the bombs and detonate them at 9 a.m., when the downtown would be bustling.
"There can be no legitimate suggestion that this was not the real thing," said Durno. "This was not a group of amateurs whose efforts were inevitably doomed to failure."
Amara was among 18 people charged in the summer of 2006 after a complex investigation that involved numerous police and intelligence agencies, both domestic and international. In October, he pleaded guilty to participating in the activity of a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion that was likely to cause serious harm or death.
Amara was one of the leaders at a December 2005 training camp in Washago, Ont., where recruits listened to jihadi speeches and took up firearms training with a gun that he supplied. He had photos and maps of Parliament with him and sought approval or support from the Mujahideen overseas. In the spring of 2006, he meticulously planned a deadly plot, hoping it would prompt Canadian military forces to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Amara's role as the "directing mind of a plot that would have resulted in the most horrific crime Canada has ever seen" is why he was given a harsher sentence than a co-accused, Saad Gaya, also sentenced by Durno on Monday. The Oakville man, who also pleaded guilty to the bomb plot, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. But with credit for pre-trial custody, Gaya will serve another 4 1/2 years. He could be eligible for full parole after serving one third of his sentence, or about 18 months. Durno noted Gaya, 22, "was not the prime mover" in the group.