Islamic State supporter has moved from Enderby to the Kootenays

An alleged ISIS supported released from custody in 2019 to go and live in Enderby, is now living in the West Kootenays.

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada confirmed Othman Ayed Hamdan is now living in Christina Lake with a new bondsperson.

The bondsperson, who iNFOnews.ca has chosen not to name, paid a $2,000 deposit to the Canada Border Services Agency as a guarantee that Hamdan, 39, would follow the conditions of his release.

“I just wanted to support him through this,” the bondsperson told iNFOnews.ca. “It was a personal decision.”

The bondsperson said they met Hamdan last year through an outside organization that he was working with, and that they are helping him write a book about his story.

Hamdan’s story largely starts in 2015 when he was arrested on four terrorism-related charges including counselling murder and counselling assault causing bodily harm for multiple posts he made to social media praising ISIS.

In 2017 to was acquitted of the charges but remained in custody and declared a danger to the security of Canada. He had his refugee status revoked but appealed his deportation back to Jordan. His appeal is still moving through the system.

In the summer of 2019, the Immigration Board ordered that Hamdan be released and he went to live with an old friend in Enderby.

The Immigration and Refugee Board originally told iNFOnews.ca Hamdan’s current file was private and it would not release the information about where Hamdan was living. But then days later, it said it had been over-cautious and released the information.

According to the Immigration Board decision, Nov. 5, 2020, Hamdan applied to have his released conditions modified so he could go and live in Christina Lake.

The decision says Hamdan is no longer under curfew as he largely complied with his release conditions while in Enderby.

He did, however, fail to access services from the Vernon Mental Health Centre, which was a condition of his release.

Hamdan did apply to be given access to the internet, but the Immigration Board largely refused.

“Since it was his internet activity that led to his deportation order on security grounds, and since Mr. Hamdan has never explicitly repudiated these activities or the views he expressed therein, controlling his access to the internet remains the core of preventing the kind of danger to the public that he poses,” the decision reads.

However, the Immigration Board did accept Hamdan’s argument that internet access is necessary for everyday life. The Immigration Board will now allow Hamdan to use the Internet, in the company of his bondsperson, to book medical appointments, contact his lawyer, and receive services from the Organization for the Prevention of Violence.

Hamdan’s request to use email was also denied.

“I cannot conceive of a practical way to allow Mr. Hamdan to use email without creating an undue risk that he will use this format to disseminate communications like those which led to his inadmissibility finding, given his lack of remorse for these past communications, the practical difficulties of monitoring such communications, and given that Mr. Hamdan is unwilling to provide the Minister with information that would assist the Minister in such monitoring due to his concerns for his family members’ safety,” the decision says.

The Board says Hamdan can either write or phone his family in Jordan.

While many in Enderby were angry at the Immigration Board’s decision to allow Hamdan to live in the town, his bondsperson in Christina Lake doesn’t believe locals there will be concerned.

“He’s been here now for a while… some people have met him. It’s a very open community but people mind their own business,” they said. “I know there was a big issue up in Enderby about it, people were having problems, it seems to be a much more conservative location than other areas,” they said.

The bondsperson dismissed any notion that Hamdan was a threat to Canadians.

A judge once said Hamdan was an “unmitigated liar” who had not “uttered one truthful word since he came to Canada.”

Even his friend and former bondsperson in Enderby said Hamdan made up lots of stories and that he was “full of shit.”

Source: Info News