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His mom shamelessly declared that charges against convicted terrorist Abdulrahman El-Bahnasawy were “fabricated.”
To Dr. Khadiga Metwally, it was all Canada’s fault that her psycho son had designs on Islamic State-style martyrdom in New York City. Boy-o’s nutty plan was to unleash carnage and bloodshed on Manhattan landmarks such as the subway and Times Square.
The problem was, his terror pen pal was an undercover FBI agent.
A smorgasbord of excuses
He pleaded guilty in March 2019 to seven counts of terrorism and was sentenced to 40 years in a U.S. federal prison. In a rambling email to The Toronto Sun in 2019, the distraught mom offered a smorgasbord of excuses for her boy.
But never mind that.
Metwally is now running to be a trustee for the Halton District Board of Education in Milton Wards 1 and 2. In a campaign form she filled out for Milton Today , she said one of her pillars is “Timely mental-health support is also essential; personal family experience has shown me the value of early understanding, compassionate support, and appropriate intervention.”
‘Manipulated by the FBI with the help of RCMP’
There is little doubt that her son, Abdulrahman El-Bahnasawy, from Mississauga, was a deeply troubled young man. And, as mom suggested in 2019, maybe he didn’t get the treatment he needed.
“My son was arrested by all unfair reasons… (he was) manipulated by FBI with the help of RCMP,” the candidate wrote the Sun in 2019.
“They manipulated him by ‘hyper’ talking while he was manic and wasn’t under treatment.”
She added: “Then [he] was arrested from the family car during our vacation visit to New York City. My son had only his bag and a few clothes. Nothing to threat[en] anybody.”
Oh, my.
The RCMP? “Dirty” for ensnaring her boy. But the proof is in the pudding, right? Ramadan would be celebrated by butchering diners in Big Apple restaurants and concert-goers.
He wanted to ‘create the next 9/11’
The U.S. Department of Justice said at the time of the wannabe terrorist’s conviction: “El-Bahnasawy acquired bomb-making materials and helped secure a cabin within driving distance of New York City to use for building explosive devices and staging the NYC Attacks.”
Her ambitious son stated he wanted to “create the next 9/11” and, in a bit of terror one-upmanship, he aimed to unleash attacks worse than the 2015 massacres in Paris and Brussels. That was just “online chatting,” his mother said, adding he was “off his meds.”
At his trial in the Big Apple, his lawyers argued that El-Bahnasawy was a mentally ill drug addict. And it is a proven fact that terrorists prey upon the unbalanced.
CAMH documents released to the Sun by the mother at the time characterized the family as Kuwaiti. El-Bahnasawy claimed in the docs that he was forced by his parents to enrol at an Islamic school even though at the time he didn’t identify as Muslim.
Well-educated, moderate Muslim family
He said the school was where he became radicalized. However, the docs said he came from a well-educated, moderate Muslim family.
Doctors assessing El-Banhasawy said, “this [jihad] is not an unusual path through which young people become involved in extreme political violence.”
And as we said, the proof is in the pudding.
While El-Banhasawy was initially incarcerated at United States Penitentiary (USP) Allenwood in Pennsylvania, his violent vibes were a long way from ebbing. On Dec. 7, 2020, he severely attacked and stabbed two corrections officers. One of the officers lost an eye.
Today, his prison home is just about as bleak as it can get: Following the stabbing in the Keystone State, El-Banhasawy was transferred to the Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX Florence). AKA Supermax.
Poses an ‘extreme danger’
The move is permanent, and officials say he poses an “extreme danger” to prison staff. Thank God he was pinched in the United States. In Canada, a small army of judicial activists and faculty lounge types would be desperately fighting for his freedom.
Not having a single issue with unleashing him on the rest of us.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun