A Yemeni man is out on bail and under house arrest despite being arrested after attempting to join a Middle Eastern terrorist organization.
An Ontario judge ordered the suspect, Husam Taha Ali Al-Sewaiee, to be released from prison and placed under house arrest for a $1,000 bond at a mosque in Toronto’s North York region according to documents obtained by Global News.
Al-Sewaiee was not arrested or charged with a terrorism offence, rather, prosecutors asked the Ontario judge for a terrorism peace bond. A peace bond is not a criminal charge, but instead imposes conditions under which the suspect must adhere to.
The judge ordered that Al-Sewaiee remain at the Toronto mosque unless he is accompanied by someone else, that he always wear an ankle monitor, that he surrender his travel documents, and stay away from airports and border crossings.
The RCMP arrested the 32-year-old man on April 19 for allegedly attempting to leave Canada and join an unspecified terrorist organization.
A citizen of Yemen, Al-Sewaiee had a previous run-in with law enforcement on April 15, just four days before his attempt to flee Canada. The Yemeni man was arrested in Peel Region and charged with uttering threats.
While the RCMP has not confirmed which terrorist group Al-Sewaiee was attempting to join, Yemen is home to the Houthis, an Iran-backed militant group.
While the Houthis have waged a civil war in Yemen for years, the Houthis gained international notoriety after they began attacking shipping vessels passing through the Red Sea. The attacks began in November 2023 to avenge Israel’s counter-attack against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
On his social media accounts, Al-Sewaiee recorded videos of himself attending pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrations, proudly wrapping himself in the Yemeni flag.
Al-Sewaiee had been in the process of applying for Canadian citizenship and was allegedly weeks away from successfully receiving it.
In a statement from B’nai Brith Canada, the organization condemned Al-Sewaiee’s past of glorifying terrorist organizations like Hamas and his promotion of jihadism.
“A man who glorified terrorism, praised Hamas, threatened mass violence, and coordinated with jihadists was living freely in Canada,” reads B’nai Brith’s statement.
“Husam Taha Ali Al-Sewaiee’s social media was filled with calls to jihad and Hamas propaganda. Al-Sewaiee shared his participation in anti-Israel protests and even documented a self-styled training camp in the Canadian wilderness.”
The Jewish advocacy organization says that the incident highlights an urgent need to reform Canada’s immigration system to prevent people with terrorist sympathies from entering the country.
“This horrifying narrative highlights the need for urgent action by our federal government to address the dangerous weaknesses plaguing Canada’s immigration and national security systems.
There should never be a pathway for those who openly demonstrate signs of radicalization to enter our country, let alone to obtain citizenship.”
True North reached out to the RCMP for comment, though no response was given at the time of publication.