Canadian Charged With Plotting Genocide - July 13, 2010

For the first time a Canadian has been charged with promoting hatred and advocating or promoting genocide.  Salman Hossain, a 25-year old immigrant from Bangladesh has been charged by the Ontario Provincial Police with three counts of “wilfully promote hatred against an identifiable group (Section 319.2)” and two counts of “advocating or promoting genocide against an identifiable group (Section 318.1)” over postings on his website and blog as well as on a third party website.

In the past Canada has only used these laws to prosecute suspects accused of mass atrocities abroad, such as in Rwanda.  The Canadian government has also deported those charged with war crimes in order that they can be tried in foreign courts. 

According to a statement by the OPP, Hossain “wilfully promoted hatred and advocated genocide of the Jewish Community.”  He openly called for “violent regime change in Western nations in order to remove the presence of Jews” and “the slaughter of Jews.”

Hossain also advocated terrorist attacks on Canada, urging fellow Muslims to overthrow the “Jewish run Canadian government” and applauding the killing of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

In the statement, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said “Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes the right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. But we must not stand idly by when these rights are used as a shield to promote hatred against any community.”

It is believed that Mr. Hossain left Canada in May and is now living in South Asia.  He continues, however, to advocate racial violence on his website and blog. OPP spokesman Sergeant Pierre Chamberland told Agence France-Press “we know that he's out of the country.  We're working with various government departments to have him brought before justice.”

“It's a tough crime to prosecute because the constitution guarantees freedom of expression, but this case goes over the line,” he said, adding: “We have an idea of where he is.”

Police first contacted Mr. Hossain in his Mississauga Ontario home in 2007.  Shortly after he wrote on his blog “you can’t charge me for possessing a thought.”  Later he would admit “Yes, I am a fanatic” and “a genocide should be perpetrated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe.  Our prime targets will be any major cities with Jews residing in them.”

If Mr. Hossain is captured, brought back to Canada and convicted, he faces up to ten years in prison.

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