EDMONTON—Would-be Jihadist suicide bomber or playful loving family man?
Those were the two starkly different ways suspected terrorist Sayfilden Tahir Sharif was portrayed Wednesday at his bail hearing in Edmonton.
A photograph snapped by Cara Rain, his common-law wife, was entered as an exhibit showing Sharif clowning around with her children in the apartment they shared before his arrest last month by RCMP at the request of the FBI.
Wearing a black hijab, Rain told court there is no way the man she loves is guilty of U.S. allegations that he supported a multinational terrorist network that took part in a suicide bombing which killed five American soldiers in Iraq.
“He is a very loving affectionate person. He is very playful and likes to joke around. He is a great dad,” Rain testified, adding Sharif has brought order to her life. Rain, who works at the Real Canadian Superstore, said that since meeting him she has converted to Islam.
“My heart is with him and Allah and my kids.”
Sharif’s lawyer, Bob Aloneissi, is seeking bail conditions akin to house arrest as his client prepares to fight extradition to the U.S.
The federal Crown wants him held in custody pending the outcome of a long hearing process that may not begin until later this year. Crown prosecutor Jim Shaw entered a letter from the U.S. Justice Department dated Feb. 1 that warns Sharif poses an extreme danger to the community and a significant flight risk.
The letter accuses Sharif of being a member of a terror network that killed the U.S soldiers in April 2009 and also alleges he offered to recruit and send other suicide bombers to Iraq to attack U.S forces. It says he also expressed interest in becoming a suicide bomber himself and asked to be put into contact with the leader of a group linked to the terror group Al Qaeda.
“The defendant has on several occasions within the past year indicated that he would like to personally engage in a suicide attack, either in Iraq against American forces, or somewhere in North America,” says the letter signed by Loretta Lynch, a U.S. Justice Department lawyer.
“He said that his ‘greatest wish’ is to die a martyr.”
The letter is partly based on transcripts of electronic conversations and emails monitored and compiled by U.S. authorities and from some Canadian wiretaps.
“The defendant uses ‘farming’ as code for Jihadist attacks because, as he explains it, Jihadists ‘plant metal and harvest metal and flesh.’”
Aloneissi challenged the contents of the letter, saying it contains hearsay not backed up by evidence. He said Sharif, 38, was born in Iraq. He is an ethnic Kurd who moved to Toronto in 1993 from a refugee camp in Turkey. Sharif later moved to Edmonton, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1997. He works as a stucco applier.
Shaw questioned the picture of the cheery home life that Rain described.
Rain acknowledged that the couple had a troubled relationship and that Sharif had packed his bags to leave for Toronto shortly before his arrest. She also testified that two other men who were friends of Sharif courted her, including one who asked her to marry him.
The single mother of four brushed it off as normal relationship problems and said that she and Sharif are devoted to each other. Rain testified that if Sharif is granted bail he can live with her and that she will call police if he breaches his conditions.
Shaw said the evidence suggests that Sharif’s ties to the community are weak and that his relationship to Rain has ended. He said there is also some question as to whether Sharif is his real name. U.S. authorities refer to the accused as Faruq Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa.
Justice Eric Macklin of Court of Queen’s Bench said he will rule on Sharif’s bail application on Friday.
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