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Feb. 17, 2006
Bomber to be paroled
UTT attacker El Merhebi will be released in May.
JANICE ARNOLD CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
The man convicted of firebombing a United Talmud Torah (UTT) school
in Montreal last year will have to avoid people involved in "activist
movements" after he is released this May, according to a Jan.
25 decision by the National Parole Board.
The parole board has imposed a special condition prohibiting Sleiman
El Merhebi from meeting or communicating with "persons known
by legal proceedings as having been involved in activist movements."
He must also stay away from anyone with a criminal record.
El Merhebi must by law be paroled in May, because he will have served
two-thirds of his 24-month prison term.
In January 2005, he was given the equivalent of 40 months behind
bars for the UTT arson, which was judged to have been a hate crime.
The eight months he was held in custody from the time of his arrest
in May 2004 counted as 16 months, leaving 24 months to be served
in a federal penitentiary.
The conditions of his parole apply until January 2007, the end of
his full sentence, which he received after pleading guilty to reduced
charges.
The Montreal school's library was firebombed overnight in April
2004, causing serious damage.
The parole board cautioned that El Merhebi, now 20, remains an "influenceable
young man with a high level of unpredictability." In his favor,
however, the board noted that he has no prior convictions, has behaved
well while in prison and has positive support awaiting him when
he is released.
"Your behavior before the offences and since your incarceration
shows your capacity to respect the rules of life in society. The
principal factor contributing to your criminality was the influence
of negative persons," the decision states.
El Merhebi's request for day parole or early conditional release
was turned down last July.
In its explanation of that decision, the parole board said El Merhebi
had been under the influence of a man described by police as a "known
activist" who was never apprehended in the firebombing case
due to "technical reasons."
El Merhebi testified that he set the fire at UTT because he was
upset by Israel's assassination the previous month of Hamas spiritual
leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. An anonymous note was taped to the door
of the school threatening more serious violence against the Jewish
community if Israel's "crimes" continued.
El Merhebi was born in Lebanon and came to Montreal at age seven.
He was described at his sentencing as a nonobservant Muslim.
Up to the point of the July review of his case, the parole board
said, El Merhebi had refused to provide any information to police
about the individual in question, except to acknowledge that he
had been encouraged by him.
His request for parole was rejected at that time because the parole
board thought there were "reasonable grounds to believe"
he would "commit an infraction accompanied by violence before
the expiration of his sentence," noting that he continues to
react emotionally to events in the Middle East.
El Merhebi was described as immature, impulsive, short-tempered
and susceptible to "the influence of people more fanatical
than you."
El Merhebi is being held in a medium-security federal penitentiary.
Richard Vachon, a parole board communications officer, said he could
not disclose which one it is.
The fate of El Merhebi's mother, also accused in the crime, remains
to be decided. Rouba Fahd El Merhebi pleaded not guilty in December
2004 to being an accessory after the fact. She has been free on
bail since her arrest in May 2004.
She allegedly tried to buy an air ticket to Brazil for her son after
the crime was committed. The main evidence, her call to a travel
agent, was gathered through a police wiretap.
Her next court date is scheduled for May 15. The delay in her case
has been partly explained by the sheer volume of wiretapping that
was recorded at the El Merhebi household.
The day news of El Merhebi's parole broke, Jewish People's and Peretz
School evacuated some 500 elementary students after receiving a
threatening phone call at around 1 p.m. Police found nothing dangerous
and said they would step up patrols in the area.
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