Alleged Toronto ISIS attack plotter now faces war crimes charges | CBC News

A Toronto man accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired mass murder in the city with his son is now facing war crimes charges, CBC News has learned.

Ahmed Eldidi, 62, and Mostafa Eldidi, 27, were both scheduled to appear Monday in a Newmarket, Ont., court. The court heard earlier that the elder Eldidi would be re-arrested by the RCMP later in the day.

A spokesperson for the federal police force said they would be issuing a statement about the case shortly. 

All offences allegedly occurred overseas before Ahmed Eldidi came to Canada and was granted citizenship.

A Superior Court indictment viewed by CBC shows the elder Eldidi is now charged with the following war crimes “against a protected person in a non-international armed conflict,” between Nov. 2014 and June 2015:

Ahmed Eldidi was previously charged with aggravated assault, listed as having occurred outside of Canada in June 2015. An ISIS propaganda video posted online that same month shows a man dressed in black using a sword to dismember a motionless victim in an orange jumpsuit.

Eldidi came to Canada in 2018, federal records show, and was granted Canadian citizenship in May of this year. His son, who does not hold Canadian citizenship, arrived in 2020 and was granted refugee status two years later.

Investigators said earlier this year Ahmed Eldidi and his son were “in the advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack.” Both accused have remained in custody since their arrest in July, pending bail hearings.

The Egyptian-born Eldidis, who were living in the east Toronto district of Scarborough, are both charged with conspiracy to commit murder and other offences related to support for the listed terrorist group, ISIS.

Eldidi granted Canadian citizenship in May

Court documents suggest Ahmed Eldidi was in possession of an axe, while his son had a machete when the pair were arrested by the RCMP’s national security unit in a Richmond Hill, Ont. hotel.

Authorities have declined to say which specific group the accused allegedly had in their sights for the alleged attack in Toronto, but Jewish advocacy organization B’nai Brith Canada told a parliamentary committee in October the Eldidis had planned “an attack against Jewish Canadians.”

B’nai Brith told CBC the source of their information was Brantford, Ont.-area Conservative MP Larry Brock.

“We were within a hair’s breadth — minutes, hours or potentially days away — of a mass casualty event on the Toronto Jewish community,” Brock said in August at a meeting of the House of Commons public safety and national security committee. He did not respond to requests for further comment.

Ahmed Eldidi came to Canada in 2018, federal records show, and was granted Canadian citizenship in May of this year. His son, who does not hold Canadian citizenship, arrived in 2020 and was granted refugee status two years later.

“This is a complex and multi-layered investigation that we are only beginning to understand,” Ahmed Eldidi’s lawyer, Kabir Sharma, recently told CBC.

“[Ahmed] Eldidi maintains his innocence and is eager to challenge the allegations in court.”

Nate Jackson, a lawyer for Ahmed Eldidi’s son and co-accused, previously said in an email, “I look forward to vigorously defending Mostafa Eldidi’s innocence.”