Arrest of alleged Iran-backed terrorist underscores need for ‘crackdown’ in Canada: CIJA

This photo taken from Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi's Snapchat account shows Al-Saadi, right, with Qasem Soleimani, former commander of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, according to U.S. officials. Photo by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

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The U.S. arrest of an alleged member of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia who is accused of plotting terrorism attacks against Jewish people in Toronto and elsewhere is “a chilling reminder” of indisputable and strengthening presence of “foreign-backed terrorism targeting Canadians,” the Centre for Israel and Jewish affairs said Sunday.

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“Canada needs to get tough on terror,” it wrote in a statement on X, calling for Kata’ib Hizballah, the organization linked to this attack, to be “immediately listed as a banned terrorist entity in Canada.”

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The group regularly claim responsibility for attacks on U.S. targets in the Middle East, according to AFP, and was responsible for kidnapping American journalist Shelly Kittleson during the early days of the current war with Iran.

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But CIJA said such a designation on its own “is insufficient.”

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“We need the strongest possible measures to ensure terrorist organizations and their proxies cannot operate in Canada, including a crackdown on the promotion, recruitment, and financing of terrorism, and the radicalization that fuels violent attacks on Canadians.”

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U.S. authorities alleged Friday that 32-year-old Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi is a senior commander in the Shia Islamist group who coordinated and supported terrorist plots targeting Jewish and American people and places in Europe, Canada and the United States.

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The attacks in Canada include two in Toronto — the shooting at the U.S. consulate in March and another at an undisclosed synagogue. Three synagogues had been targeted in the week leading up to the consulate incident.

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In court documents unsealed last week, the FBI described him as “a high-value target responsible for mass global terrorism.”

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Prosecutors allege Al-Saadi directed or encouraged attacks in retaliation for recent U.S.-Israeli military strikes in Iran. Court filings link him and his associations to at least 16 other attacks in the U.S. and Europe, including stabbings, synagogue arsons, and attacks on Jewish schools and Israeli businesses.

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Authorities say he also helped spread propaganda about the attacks online.

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Investigators allege he later planned attacks from within the U.S., targeting another synagogue in New York and Jewish centres in California and Arizona. They also allege that he paid an undercover FBI operative a US$3,000 downpayment to carry out one of the attacks before he was arrested.

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Al-Saadi appeared in a New York City federal court Friday where he faced six terrorism-related charges.

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