Hassan Farhat ( ar, حسن فرحات) (Born in Telafa,

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, also known as Abdul Jabbar,Hamilton, Dwight. "Terror Threat: International and Homegrown terrorists and their threat to Canada", 2007 Abu Ossama, and Abu Khalid) is an Iraqi

Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

who founded Salaheddin Mosque in the

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

district of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario, Canada. However, he was made

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution. Diplomacy Under Article 9 of the ...

by the worship centre's administration, and was allowed to return only for worship. Shephard, Michelle and Tonda MacCharles.

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

, "Mosque founder tied to terror group", March 9, 2005 After returning to Iraq in 2001, he was accused of being a "top Ansar commander" by the

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ku, یەکێتیی نیشتمانیی کوردستان, translit=Yekîtiya Nîştimanî ya Kurdistanê) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describe ...

.Contenta, Sandro.

, "Toronto men in terror riddle", March 14, 2003 Other sources have accused him of belonging to

Egyptian Islamic Jihad The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...

Life in Canada

After becoming a

landed immigrant Permanent residency (PR) in Canada is a status granting someone who is not a Canadian citizen the right to live and work in Canada without any time limit on their stay. To become a permanent resident a foreign national must apply to Immigration ...

in Canada, Farhat lived on

Eglinton East Eglinton East, historically known as Knob Hill, is a residential and commercial neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded by Stansbury Crescent, Citadel Drive, and West Highland Creek to the north, Midland Avenue to the west, the C ...

,Cribb, Robert.

, "Four terrorism suspects linked to local mosque", March 15, 2003 but faced constant difficulty trying to obtain full citizenship, since

Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...

was wary of his connections to

. In 1996, Farhat met

Mahmoud Jaballah ) is an Egyptian who has been detained in Canada without charge on a "security certificate" since August 2001 due to his association with members of al-Jihad.Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian who has been detained in Canada due to his association with members of al-Jihad but denies any wrongdoingMet top al-Qaeda figure just for tea, Egyptian says
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', May 26, 2006) at the Medina Mosque in Toronto, and helped him find a local apartment and learn English. CTV
Jaballah denies links to terrorist groups
July 11, 2006 Farhat introduced Jaballah to Ali Hussein,Hanes, Allison.

CanWest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

Jaballah claims purely innocent dealings with other terror suspects
, July 12, 2006 and later moved to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and then back to Toronto. The ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'' describes him as one of the founders of the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in Toronto. It was at Farhat's apartment in Montreal, following the birth of his child, that Jaballah and

Mustafa Krer A Libyan-Canadian, Mustafa Mohammed Krer (also ''Abdel Salaam'', ''El Faidl'') left Libya in 1989, following the arrest of his brother al-Mukhtar Muhammad Krer.Amnesty International,Amnesty International Concerns Regarding Risk of return to Libya", ...

had their only Montreal meeting. Jaballah also visited him in Winnipeg, and phoned him 41 times,MCI et al. v. Mahmoud Jaballah, DES-04-01 Transcript of Proceedings, July 11, 2006, pp. 884-907, July 13, 2006, pp. 1018-1022. once telling him that Kassem Daher would appreciate any religious audiocassettes that Farhat and Jaballah could send him. Farhat and Daher also spoke to each other, with Farhat once being recorded on a

wiretap Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

ped call saying he admired the terrorist

Omar Abdel Rahman Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( ar, عمر عبد الرحمن), (ʾUmar ʾAbd ar-Raḥmān; 3 May 1938 – 18 February 2017), commonly known in the United States as "The Blind Sheikh", was a blind Egyptian Islamist militant who served a life sent ...

so much that ""he puts the whole world on one scale and ‘the blind one’ on the other, because he was so precious". On February 14, 1997,

spoke to a companion and referred to Farhat as a man with funds "for the cause".

Return to Iraq

Upset that he was unable to receive

Canadian citizenship Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in Ca ...

, the ethnic Turkomen returned to Iraq in October 2001. When Saeed Rasoul, another member of Salaheddin Mosque, returned to the following year there were allegations that Farhat had convinced him to come join

Ansar al-Islam Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan ( ku, ئەنسارولئیسلام له کوردستان),Chalk, Peter, ''Encyclopedia of Terrorism'' Volume 1, 2012, ABC-CLIO simply called Ansar al-Islam ( ku, ئەنسارولئیسلام), also nicknamed the Kurdi ...

. Osman Ali, an 18-year-old member of Ansar al-Islam detained in prison in

Sulaymaniya Sulaymaniyah, also spelled as Slemani ( ku, سلێمانی, Silêmanî, ar, السليمانية, as-Sulaymāniyyah), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, not far from the Iran–Iraq border. It is surrounded by the Azmar, Go ...

, spoke to reporter Sandro Contenta from the ''

'' in March 2003. He told her that his commander was Farhat, and that he told his group that he left Canada because the police accused him of having ties to

al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

. It was later alleged that he commanded ''Al-Aqsa Battalion'', a group of 80 militants and six

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...

Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah
February 22, 2008 or alternatively that he led the ''Yahia Ayash Battalion'' of the same strength. He was captured in 2003 by the

.MacLeon, Ian.

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

,
The warning lights were all blinking red
", February 23, 2008 On March 7, 2005, he and Saeed Rasoul were named by CSIS Director

Jim Judd James Judd (born August 1947) is a Canadian retired diplomat and senior civil servant. He served as the Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). He was appointed to the position by Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin on November ...

in remarks to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

, that Farhat "is believed to be a key commander and ideologue with"

and that Saeed was "believed to be a member".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farfat, Hassan Canadian Muslims Iraqi emigrants to Canada Living people Year of birth missing (living people)