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McMASTER UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER / THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2010
The Silhouette
VOLUME 80, NO. 17
Est. 1930
12 years.
Former McMaster engineering student, Saad Gaya, has been sentenced to 12 years for his guilty plea in association with the proposed âToronto 18â terror plot
ALEX TAVSHUNSKY / CBC
Saad Gaya, shown above, was one of the members of the âToronto 18â arrested between June and August 2006. SELMA AL-SAMARRAI SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
Former McMaster University student Saad Gaya was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his involvement in the âToronto 18â terrorist plan in 2006. Justice Bruce Durno acknowledged Gayaâs supplementary role in the terrorist plot on Monday January 18, explaining that he did not know the speciďŹcs of the bomb but he was aware that there would be serious bodily harm and damage to property. Judge Durno also read a psychiatric assessment of Gaya, which clariďŹed that Gaya did not seem to suffer any major mental illnesses or anxiety disorders. Gaya attended McMaster University for one academic year before being arrested in May 2006 while unloading 125 bags of ammonium nitrate, each 25 Kg, from a truck into a Newmarket storage facility with a fellow participant of the Toronto 18 group. The warehouse was used by the terrorist group to store bombmaking fertilizer. As reported in the National Post, the terrorist plot involved detonating bombs in the following three locations in Ontario, the CSIS regional ofďŹce on Front
LIFE: Zakaria Amara, 23, the
groupâs leader, plead guilty and was sentenced to life in prison on Jan.18, and will be eligible for parole in 6.5 years.
7: Number of members who
were released after signing peace bonds and agreeing to participate in rehabilitation.
1 DAY: Amin Durrani entered
a surprise guilty plea on Jan. 20 and was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison but considering time he has already served in custody, he was released today.
Street, the Toronto Stock Exchange and a military base between Toronto and Ottawa. Regarding the length of Gayaâs sentence, Judge Durno took into account the three years and seven months pre-sentence custody that Gaya has already completed on a two-for-one basis along with a small amount of extra credit given for the 14 months of solitary conďŹnement he
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completed, and therefore Gaya has four and a half years left to complete. Gaya will be eligible for parole after one-third of that sentence. Later on the day of January 18, the leader of the âToronto 18â terrorist plot Zakaria Amara was sentenced to life in prison by Judge Durno, with an eligibility for parole in six and a half years. On the morning of January 20, Amin Durrani, another former member of the âToronto 18â terrorist plot suddenly plead guilty, and instead of awaiting his trial in March, now has one more day to serve in prison at the Maplehurst correctional facility. This is due to the fact that Judge Durno ordered a seven and a half year sentence, but with pre-sentencing custody taken into account, leaves Durrani in prison for one more day. Durrani was part of another plot to be arranged by âToronto 18â which involved storming into Parliament and beheading the prime minister to protest Canadaâs involvement in Afghanistan. According to Judge Durnoâs reading prior to the sentencing, Gaya referred to his offense as a shameful crime and openly denounced the use of violence at a political cost and agreed to counseling.
Helping Haiti LILY PANAMSKY
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
3000 km away from the destruction, the violence, and the looting that is currently taking place in Haiti, McMaster University students are putting aside their differences and coming together to raise money for Latin Americaâs poorest country. An earthquake of 7.0 magnitude hit Haitiâs capital, Port-au-Prince, on January 12, 2010 at 4:53 p.m. local time. With death estimates totaling between 50,000 to 200,000 and an aftershock quake hitting on Wednesday Jan. 20, this is the worst earthquake in the country in 200 years. The international community scrambled to send out relief packages, troops, and police to Haiti in the days following the quake, but fourth year social work and sociology student Jones Musara felt that it wasnât enough for him to sit around and rely on someone else to help Haiti pick up the pieces. âI felt compelled to organize and mobilize people because we believed that we could come in and make a difference.â The âHelp Haiti Campaignâ was thus formed on Thursday Jan. 14 by a small number of students, with Musara acting as the Team Organizing Leader. Since then the group has expanded to over half a dozen organizers and more than 350 supporters. Jones and his Organizing Team are at their booth in the Student Centre at any free hour they have during the day. The booth runs from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. âThe response from people has been overwhelming,â said Musara. By Tuesday Jan. 19âa week after the earthquakeâthe organization had reached $2000 of its $5000 target amount. In some cases, students donated up to $40 at a time. All proceeds are going to Dove Missions, a grassroots organization that is currently working on the grounds of Haiti. Some of the people donating have relatives in Haiti or feel a connection to the Caribbean, but Musara explained, âThere have been people from all walks of life [donating]âŚlike people of all coloursâŚthat has been very, very encouraging.â Organizing Coordinator Siobhan Stewart expressed her pride in Musaraâs quick mobilizing of students and in the McMaster communityâs willingness to donate. âItâs just amazing, because weâre a bunch of youth, weâre a bunch of studentsâthose are our prioritiesâbut people can really do great things.â Stewart also spoke highly of Chief Organizer Donata Ling, who was unable to attend the interview. Other campus organizations that have contributed to the âHelp Haiti Campaignâ include Invisible Children, the McMaster Jewish Association, and the McMaster First Nations Student Association. Musara and Stewart stated that there was interest from other groups on campus. âWeâre also looking into seeing if Walmart, even the LCBOâŚwill match what we raise,â said Stewart. When explaining how she managed to reserve so much time for this effort, Stewart boldly stated âI do believe that there are moments in life where you have to step up and you have to take action.â More on Haiti: The McMaster communityâs relief efforts and a timeline of events on page A3.
The end for Undercovers Book re-seller to shut down by march SELMA AL-SAMARRAI SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
Undercovers, the McMaster Student Union Bookstore, is now in talks for a potential close. The suggestion nonetheless aims to maintain the service without using the space in the student centre by making it available
online. Undercovers re-sells studentsâ used textbooks for any price the student desires and collects a 20 per cent consignment fee. John McIntyre, one of the six representatives of the faculty of science in the Student Representative Assembly (SRA) ⢠PLEASE SEE UNDER, A5