A former Quebec university student on trial for terrorism in Senegal said a money transfer allegedly intended to get him to Syria was in fact meant for him to return to school in Canada, a court in the Senegalese capital of Dakar heard Thursday. The criminal trial is the first opportunity that Assane Kamara has had to plead his innocence since he was arrested in January 2016. Among the discoveries made by police were receipts from Western Union for money transfers worth the equivalent of more than $1,500, according to a report from the trial. Concerned that he had cut himself off from family members while in Canada, she sought out her son and found him leading prayers at Edmonton’s Sahaba mosque. The trio — Samir Halilovic, Youssef Sakhir and Zakria Habibi — fled Canada in the following months to join Daesh, also known as the Islamic State.

Source: thestar March 16, 2018 02:15 UTC