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January 14, 2005
Firebomb suspect pleads guilty
Officials believe that the teen did not act alone in the school
arson attack.
JANICE ARNOLD CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
Jewish community officials are convinced that Sleiman Elmerhebi,
who pleaded guilty last month to the April 5 firebombing of the
St. Laurent United Talmud Torahs (UTT) library, did not act alone.
Both Bill Surkis, regional director of B'nai Brith Canada, and Jeff
Boro, president of Canadian Jewish Congress, Quebec Region, said
they are convinced Elmerhebi was set up.
Crown prosecutor Anne Aubé withdrew charges of conspiracy
against Elmerhebi in exchange for his guilty plea for arson.
But Boro, a criminal lawyer, said, "I believe there was a conspiracy.
Unfortunately, the evidence did not justify the conspiracy charge,
but ... I am morally convinced other people acted with him.... It's
clear to me he is hiding something.... His testimony did not have
the ring of truth."
Surkis said he finds it "very difficult" to believe Elmerhebi
was the sole author of the note left at the scene of the crime because
the French is "too polished and literate," and because
Elmerhebi's responses to questions by Aubé and Quebec Court
Judge Jean Sirois were vague and evasive.
Sirois attempted unsuccessfully to get Elmerhebi to explain what
he meant in the note, which was made public for the first time during
the two-day sentencing hearing. Elmerhebi, now 19, answered that
he wrote it by himself and that the signature "Les Brigades
du Cheick Ahmed Yasine" (sic) was not an existing group, just
something he thought up.
Aubé also failed to get a clear answer on why Elmerhebi committed
the crime, other than that he became "emotional" after
hearing about Israel's assassination of the Hamas spiritual leader
a month earlier on television news. Elmerhebi was born in Lebanon
and came to Canada at age seven. He is Muslim but not, according
to evidence, observant.
The letter, written in French, says in part: "Today, our target
was an empty place. Our goal was only to sound the alarm, without
causing any deaths, but this is only the beginning. If your crimes
continue in the Middle East, our attacks will continue.... The next
time, we will hit harder."
Aubé recommended a minimum sentence of two years in prison,
and that the seven months he has been in custody not be taken into
account. (The time an accused is held prior to sentencing actually
counts for double.)
Aubé stressed that this was an "extremely serious"
hate crime, which is an aggravating factor under the Criminal Code
of Canada and contrary to constitutional protection of multiculturalism.
She also referred to it as a terrorist act. She cited Elmerhebi's
own words in a wiretapped telephone conversation May 13, in which
he talks about how he planned and committed the crime. He asks the
other party, Ali Awada, if he thinks he'll go to prison. Awada answers:
"Not for vandalism." Elmerhebi replies: "This isn't
vandalism; it's terrorism." Elmerhebi was arrested the next
day.
"At this point," Aubé said, police investigators
have not established the existence of a terrorist organization,
but raised doubt that only one person was behind the firebombing.
Elmerhebi is "essentially saying 'sorry,' but don't ask me
too many questions," she said.
Other aggravating factors she cited were intimidation, the fact
that an elementary school was the target, the damages (given as
approximately $685,000 by UTT president Rachel Cohen) and the political
motivation of avenging an international matter. It was also premeditated,
she said, noting that Elmerhebi and another person were caught on
videotape buying the six containers of kerosene used in the arson
two days earlier at the Canadian Tire store on Cavendish Boulevard
where he worked.
She also argued that Elmerhebi was aware enough of what he was doing
to be thinking about how he might split the $50,000 reward (offered
by B'nai Brith and the Sun Youth Organization), also on the wiretap.
His punishment should be "exemplary" to send a message
that this type of behavior is not acceptable in Canadian society,
she said. Although the maximum for arson is 14 years, she took into
account Elmerhebi's age and that this is his first offence, as well
as sentences in similar cases in Canada.
Defence lawyer Pierre Poupart asked for a conditional sentence served
in the community. He cited the 2002 case of the firebombing of an
Edmonton synagogue, in which the 20-year-old man convicted, also
a first-offender, received 30 months, with parole after 10 months.
Elmerhebi, he said, has already served the equivalent of 14 months,
and unlike the other man, has fully acknowledged his responsibility
and the consequences, and expressed remorse.
Elmerhebi submitted a three-page apology in which he asks for the
"forgiveness of the Jewish community." Other than a slight
frown and occasional hanging of his head, he was impassive throughout
the hearing.
UTT director-general Sidney Benudiz said he found Elmerhebi's apology
"phony" and "coached." Full closure for the
school will only come when an appropriate sentence is handed down,
he said.
Poupart brought forward a series of character witnesses, including
psychiatrist Dr. Louis Morissette and Elmerhebi's father Khaled
to try to show that his client had acted out of character and is
trying to get his life back on track by studying to be a mechanic.
Prosecution witness Janice Gerson, a UTT parent, testified on the
"devastating" impact of the crime on its victims.
"I never thought this would happen in our home, in Canada,"
she said.
Her teenaged son told her: "It's just like Nazi Germany when
they broke the windows." Her younger son had a nightmare of
the "bad men" coming back to the school, and she and her
husband also feared it would happen again.
B'nai Brith submitted a written victim-impact statement on behalf
of the Montreal Jewish community, mentioning the large number of
Holocaust survivors.
Elmerhebi's mother, Rouba Fahd-Elmerhebi, still faces a charge of
being an accessory after the fact for allegedly trying to arrange
for her son to leave the country after the arson.
Sentencing for Elmerhebi is scheduled for Jan. 18.
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