A Toronto Police Car is pictured in Toronto on Feb. 18, 2024. The Canadian Press/Arlyn McAdorey
Toronto police have charged a man with participating in or contributing to activities of a terrorist group following an investigation into his conduct in two pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city’s downtown core in 2024.
Police say 33-year-old Ahmad Hassan Hajahmad incited hate and called for harm against Jewish and Israeli people “for the benefit of, and in association with, Hamas,” during pro-Palestinian protests on May 25 and Sept. 7, 2024.
One those two days, “the accused attended pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the Bay Street and Front Street West area, where he used amplification devices to make public statements that advocated for the detestation and harm against members of the Israeli and Jewish communities,” Toronto Police Service wrote in a July 22 release, adding that the accused was arrested and charged the day before on July 21.
Police say investigators executed a search warrant at a Toronto residence on March 7 of last year, seizing a number of electronic devices that later provided proof of the suspect’s alleged ties to the terrorist group.
A subsequent joint investigation by the Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit and the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team gathered evidence “supporting the allegation that the accused acted for the benefit of, and in association with, Hamas.”
Hamas is a Palestinian terrorist group which also has a political wing that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said “complex investigations” like this one show the importance of boosting the Toronto Police Service’s Counter Terrorism Security Unit.
“Investigations into criminal offences committed at demonstrations do not end when the event is over. As this investigation progressed, we worked closely with our INSET partners to pursue the terrorism charge warranted by the investigation,” Demkiw said.
The accused appeared July 21 before the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto. Police noted that they cannot provide further details related to the investigation due to a court-imposed publication ban.
