| Saad Khalid | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 12th, 1986 Saudi Arabia |
| Charge(s) | |
| Conviction(s) |
Pleaded Guilty
|
| Occupation | University of Toronto business student |
A 19-year old University of Toronto student, Saad Khalid was one of 17 people detained and arrested on June 2 and June 3, 2006, in the Greater Toronto Area in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests.
He was involved with a group of people suspected in the planning of coordinated bombing attacks against targets in southern Ontario. He was the first to plead guilty to intent to cause an explosion, while 7 others were acquitted and five others, including a juvenile, were also convicted.[2][3]
Khalid's guilty plea can be viewed at: http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2009/2009canlii44274/2009canlii44274.html
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Khalid was born August 12, 1986 in Saudi Arabia to Pakistani parents.[4] Khalid moved to Canada with his parents from Pakistan at the age of 8.[5] He played in the Erin Mills Soccer Club league where he was well liked and the team's top scorer.
He graduated from Meadowvale Secondary School, where he had started an Islamic Club and led Friday prayers in the lecture hall, which he attended with fellow arrestees Fahim Ahmad and Zakaria Amara.[5] He was known among students for lecturing others not to take illegal drugs, or get in fights.[6] It was suggested that he turned to religion after his mother's death.[7]
He enrolled in business school at the University of Toronto at Mississauga.[6]
Khalid attended the training camp with many of the other arrestees and was had used a video camera in the downtown area for reconnaissance. He rented the warehouse space for the ammonium nitrate where he and Saad Gaya were later arrested.[4]
Khalid was arrested in a warehouse alongside one of the five who cannot be named. The two had been lining cardboard boxes with plastic to store the fertilizer.[8] Khalid had told his parents he was attending a job fair.[5]
He was denied bail on July 17, 2006 and has since been in solitary confinement.
On May 4, 2009, Khalid pleaded guilty before judge Bruce Durno to a single count of acting "with the intention of causing an explosion or explosions that were likely to cause serious bodily harm or death or damage property". In return, it was expected that charges of participation in a terrorist group and training in furtherance of a terrorist group would be dropped.[1][2] Lawyers for the other accused members still pending trial sought to have a publication ban prohibit all mention in the media of the guilty plea, but were largely unsuccessful.[2] Durno's decision stated that "there has been no finding of guilt or conviction" simply because of the plea.[2]
On September 3, 2009, Khalid was sentenced to 14 years in prison with credit of 7 years for time already served. He is eligible for parole after serving a third of his sentence since 2009.[9] The Crown has since appealed his sentence.[10]
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http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/09/03/terror-trial-sentence090309.html