Fort St. John man acquitted of terror charges

A Fort St.John B.C.man charged with terror offenses, including inciting murder,has been acquitted.

OthmanHamdanwas charged withencouragingmurder, assault and mischieffor terrorist purposes.

He was also accused of inducing and instructing someone to carry out a terrorist act.

Hamdan was 33 and working as a construction contractor when he was arrested in Fort St.John in 2015.

RCMPscrutinized 85 Facebook posts published between 2014 and 2015andalleged that Hamdanposted pro-ISIS material and celebrated advances made by the group.

The court also heard that Hamdan's posts praised lone wolf attacks on Parliament Hill and Quebec and that he published a how-to guide for carrying out attacks.

But Hamdan, who plead not guilty to all fourcharges against him, argued that his posts were taken out of context, and that he used social media to"shine a light"on atrocities being carried outin the Middle East.

He said his posts constituted political satireand were attempts to explain why certain events were taking place, without endorsing them.

A life on the road

Hamdan, who described himself as a non-practicing Sunni Muslim, was born to Palestinian parents in Abu Dhabi and moved to the U.S. at the age of 18.

After 9/11, Hamdan was interrogated because his Saudi roommate was an aviation student.

He moved to Vancouver in 2001, saying he was facingdiscriminationin the U.S.

Hamdan was accepted as a refugee in B.C. in 2002.

According toprominent members of the Fort St. John community, Hamdan led a relatively isolated life in the small town.

At the time of his arrest, the mayor of Fort St. John said he was virtually unknown to the community.

A spokesman for the Peace River Muslim Association said hehad never met or even heard of Hamdan before police announced the charges, and that he had never visited the local mosque.

Because Hamdanis not a Canadian citizen, he may need to attend an immigration hearing.