Terror plot ringleader of Jihadist group ‘Toronto 18,’ which planned to bomb several locations and storm government, granted full release because parole board says he’s ‘polite and quiet’
The ‘mastermind and chief organizer’ of a terrorist plot to bomb three government buildings in Toronto is now roaming the streets after a parole board cited his ‘respectful, polite and quiet’ demeanor.
Zakaria Amara, now 41, pleaded guilty in 2009 in the Canadian Superior Court of Justice, three years after he planned the extremist attack. A massive police investigation thwarted the plot.
Amara was sentenced to nine years in prison for organizing a training camp for terrorist recruits and to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years for plotting to construct a bomb. He was arrested on the day bomb-making materials were delivered to a warehouse.
He appealed his sentence in 2010, but the court denied it. However, the parole board granted Amara day parole in 2022, a form of conditional release in a supervised residential facility.
The Parole Board of Canada in Ontario granted Amara full parole on Friday. The written decision, obtained by the Canadian Press, said he no longer showed ‘any signs of holding onto extremist beliefs or radical ideologies.’
The board praised Amara for reintegrating into society during day parole, noting that he rehabilitated and demonstrated a ‘positive change, both in attitude and in behavior.’
He harbored extremist values behind bars but officials documented an ideological shift in 2014 and he was transferred to a minimum-security prison, according to the written decision.
‘During the latter part of your federal custody and for the past four years in the community, you have undertaken a process to distance yourself from extremist ideologies and others who share the same views,’ the board wrote.
Zakaria Amara, now 41, has been granted full parole over two decades after plotting a massive terrorist attack in Canada
Amara served time in maximum-security prison for the plot. He was released on day parole four years ago and is pictured above in Facebook photos uncovered in 2018
Amara was arrested in 2006 in a massive raid connected with the terrorist group. His home at the time is pictured above
Amara has been barred from communicating with anyone involved in criminal activity, including his Toronto 18 co-conspirators, and anyone who harbors extremist ideology.
He will live in his own home, attend a mosque, see family, participate in ‘appropriate leisure activities’ and work a full-time job, the review stated.
Amara also must continue counseling, financial monitoring and has restrictions on phone and internet use.
While he was in prison, a Facebook account in Amara’s name circulated online, showing photos of him behind bars and it was subsequently taken down, Global News reported in 2018.
The Toronto 18 case rocked Canadians and was widely considered the country’s first large-scale homegrown terrorist plot.
The depths of the plot were uncovered after a massive police raid in the summer of 2006 when around 400 officers stormed homes in Toronto and Mississauga. The youngest men arrested were 15 and 17 years old.
An informant with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) infiltrated the group and testified that the plot to bomb the Toronto Stock Exchange Tower, the CSIS Headquarters and a military base was well developed.
The informant reported that Amara had asked him for help purchasing ammonium nitrate, the fertilizer used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. To maximize damage, Amara had planned to put metal chips inside the bombs.
The plan was to detonate all three buildings during rush hour. Amara’s sentencing judge noted that if the plot succeeded, ‘the results would have been catastrophic,’ leading to many deaths. Prosecutors compared the plan to what would have been a ‘Canadian 9/11.’
Amara pleaded guilty to the attacks in 2009. His sister (right) is pictured above holding his daughter outside Brampton Court
A written review from the parole board said he has worked to rehabilitate and no longer harbors extremist views. He is pictured above in an undated social media photo
Amara was described by the review board as ‘respectful, polite and quiet’
‘Driven by his violent Jihadist convictions, the appellant plotted and schemed for months, schooled himself in the science of bomb-making, recruited underlings to assist him, used tactics designed to reduce the chances of detection, and played a central role in every important decision that was made to further the conspiracy,’ judges wrote in an appeal denial in 2010.
During his sentencing, Amara read aloud a two-page letter to the judge, expressing remorse and accepting his fate.
‘Even though my terrorist plans were divinely aborted I still feel that I have killed since actions are intertwined with intentions. Therefore, until I save the same number of souls that I almost took away, I will remain indebted with a heavy burden that I would hate to meet God with,’ he said.
Amara recalled that during his incarceration, he met an inmate whose brothers worked in the Exchange Towers.
‘Although it could be said that everyone was a potential victim, this title fit him right on. I was shook by the irony of the meeting. I felt pathetic, I felt foolish, I felt sorry,’ he said.
In a letter to his fellow Canadians, Amara said he regretted his actions and vowed to be a better man so that one day his peers ‘will perhaps contemplate accepting me once more into the fold.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Parole Board of Canada for comment and the written review.
