A man convicted of supporting al-Qaeda in the early 2000s will undergo a psychiatric evaluation after he was arrested this week in Montreal for allegedly threatening to commit a mass killing. The RCMP arrested Mohammed Abdullah Warsame, 51, on Wednesday after he allegedly told an employee at a local homeless shelter on May 26 that he wanted to “commit an attack with the goal of killing a large number of people.” He has been charged with uttering death threats under the Criminal Code. During a court appearance on Friday, court heard that he was declared fit to stand trial. Following a request from the Crown prosecutor and the defence, a judge ordered Warsame, who is homeless, to be assessed at the Philippe-Pinel psychiatric hospital in Montreal for 30 days in order to determine his criminal responsibility for the crime he is facing. Warsame nodded when asked if he understood the judge’s decision and was told to return to court in July when the findings of the assessment will be presented. The Crown prosecutor could not say whether or not the accused will face additional charges. Warsame pleaded guilty in 2009 in federal court in Minneapolis to one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to the terrorist group al-Qaeda. According to the plea agreement, Warsame provided forms of support, including training and currency, to al-Qaeda between 2000 and 2003. In 2000, he travelled to the al Faruq training camp, “where he received training and met Osama bin Laden. Warsame subsequently worked at an al-Qaeda guesthouse and clinic,” according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. officials said Warsame described Bin Laden as “very inspirational” and was trained to use weapons, such as AK-47 rifles. According to an affidavit sworn by an FBI special agent in 2004, the accused said he saw bin Laden on several occasions, attended his lectures, and sat next to him at a meal. After serving his sentence in prison in the U.S., Warsame, a Canadian citizen of Somali descent, was deported back to Canada in 2010. Assessing the threat In the eyes of law enforcement, people who are convicted of terrorism offences are considered “a person of interest until their death,” but authorities would have difficulty monitoring someone who, like Warsame, has no fixed address, according to Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). The Old Mission Brewery, where the alleged threats were made, said Thursday that it was Warsame’s first time at the homeless shelter and that staff acted quickly to notify police. Juneau-Katsuya said in an interview Friday that terrorists don’t usually broadcast their attacks publicly, leading him to believe that Warsame might not have been a legitimate threat, “but maybe somebody who needs attention [for] mental health issues.” “That said, we cannot discard the fact that it is known and accepted as a fact that he went 25 years ago and trained with al-Qaeda, he supported the cause, was [found] guilty in the U.S. for terrorist activities or affiliation. And in that perspective, he is a person of interest,” said Juneau-Katsuya, who is now a criminology professor and vice-president of special projects and strategic development at TITAN Sécurité. The mental health assessment in the coming days will be key in determining Warsame’s state of mind and where the case goes from here. “Where is the criminal intention? The criminal intention has to be a conscious intention. If it’s something simply that he threw in the air in front of people to attract attention, or because he was angry, or he wanted to scare some people around him because he was frustrated, or something like this, we might not get the level acceptable for a criminal conviction,” said the former CSIS officer. “So, that’s the reason why this assessment is very, very important because the court wants to know if we’re dealing with a normal individual or somebody who needs help.” The RCMP said Thursday that it takes violent statements seriously and they should be reported by contacting 514-939-8300 or 1-800-771-5401, the National Security Information Network at 1-800-420-5805, or a local police service. With files from CTV Montreal’s Stéphane Giroux
