Canada gave citizenship to an ISIS terrorist who executed a prisoner with a sword

The federal government is declining to explain how a Toronto man was able to immigrate to Canada despite allegedly having taken part in ISIS violence overseas.

Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, has been charged with committing an aggravated assault for the so-called Islamic State. The alleged incident took place outside Canada in 2015.

Sources have told Global News the charge stems from a video released by ISIS that year that shows a man dismembering a prisoner with a sword.

The RCMP arrested Eldidi and his son Mostafa, 26, at a hotel north of Toronto as they were allegedly about to commit a terrorist attack for ISIS. Police seized a machete and axe at the scene.

While police told reporters both suspects are Canadians, Global News has learned the son does not hold citizenship in this country, and the father immigrated after the ISIS execution video was released.

At a news conference on Wednesday, the RCMP said the arrests had disrupted an attack on an unknown target in Toronto, but there was no further threat to public safety.

Three sources told Global News that before they were taken into custody, the father and son had allegedly recorded a video showing them holding bladed weapons in front of an ISIS flag.

The Eldidis appeared in court in Newmarket, Ont., on Thursday. They have been charged with six terrorism offences related to ISIS. They were scheduled to return to court on Aug. 7.

But in addition to facing conspiracy to murder charges, the elder Eldidi was accused of an alleged 2015 "aggravated assault, outside Canada … in association with a terrorist group, to wit the Islamic State."

A video closely matching the description of the one the sources said led to the assault charge was released in June 2015 by the media office of Dijlah State, a province of ISIS in western Iraq.

The four-minute video, titled "Deterring Spies," shows a prisoner allegedly confessing before being led outside. He then appears suspended from a crucifix-like structure in the sand.

Arabic script in the video says that enemies of God are to be killed, crucified or have their hands and feet cut off. A middle-aged man is then shown wearing a black cap bearing the ISIS logo.

Using a sword, he hacks the hands and feet off the prisoner. His face is briefly visible in the video. It is unclear whether the victim was still alive during the incident.

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