OTTAWA — The accused extremist recruiter is back in Ontario Superior Court on Thursday and is expected to plead guilty to terrorism crimes, eight years after he was first indicted.
Awso Peshdary’s criminal trial led to a federal court ruling that his attorney should drop the charges because the Canadian spy agency was empowered to monitor him based on misleading information. was on hold until
A federal court has yet to issue a ruling, but Peshdari’s attorney is now filing a petition to the Criminal Court to handle the matter.
They say their client is now ready to plead guilty and the defense is filing a joint application with Crown to proceed directly to sentencing.
Peshdary was arrested in February 2015 on terrorism-related charges. This is based on allegations that he recruited and financed domestically grown terrorists and helped IS militants travel to Syria.
His case has dragged on in court as the attorneys representing him, the RCMP, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency debate what evidence is admissible and can be disclosed in the lawsuit.
Peshdary, who was 25 at the time of his arrest, has been in custody since 2015. He spent most of that time in his Carlton Detention Center in Ottawa.
This report by the Canadian Press was first published on February 21, 2023.
