[ April 19, 2026 ]
Because under Islam, the sharia is above all manmade law.
Train plot suspect rejects Canadian law, cites "holy book" Reuters, Apr 24, 2013 (thanks to Andrew Bostom)
TORONTO (Reuters) – One of two men accused in an alleged al Qaeda-backed plan to derail a passenger train in Canada appeared in court on Wednesday and disputed the authority of Canadian law to judge him, saying the criminal code was not a holy book.
ADVERTISEMENTChiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born doctoral student, faces charges that include conspiracy to murder and working with a terrorist group.
He and another suspect, Raed Jaser, are charged with plotting to derail a passenger train, and U.S. security sources say they sought to attack at a bridge near the U.S.-Canada border.
In a brief hearing where he was ordered back into custody, Esseghaier, 30, said the allegations against him are based on laws that are unreliable because they are not the work of God.
"All of these conclusions was taken out based on (the) criminal code," he told a Toronto court. "The criminal code is not (a) holy book."
He added: "Only the Creator is perfect."
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Esseghaier and Jaser were arrested on Monday in separate raids after a joint Canada-U.S. investigation that started last year, based on a tip from a member of the Muslim community.
Jaser was remanded into custody on Tuesday. His lawyer, John Norris, said he denies the charges against him and will fight them vigorously.
Esseghaier, who has a thick black beard and wore a blue-black windbreaker, has been a doctoral student since 2010 at the INRS institute near Montreal where he is researching the use of nanotechnology to detect cancer and other diseases.
Authorities said there is no connection to the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing in which three people were killed and 264 injured.
But U.S. officials say investigators are trying to establish if the two suspects were part of a wider network with associates in the United States, especially in New York.
Canadian authorities have said they linked Esseghaier and Jaser to al Qaeda factions in Iran. However, they said there was no indication their plans, which police described as the first known al Qaeda-backed plot on Canadian soil, were state-sponsored. Tehran has vehemently rejected any ties to the suspects.
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Both suspects are due to appear in court, probably by video link, on May 23rd for a procedural hearing. A date has yet to be set for bail hearings.
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