Qayyum Jamal

Canadian janitor and school bus driver

Abdul Qayyum Jamal is a Canadian janitor and school bus driver who was labelled the ringleader of an alleged terrorist plot in Toronto in June 2006 after a Canadian Member of Parliament reported his virulent criticism of Canadian troops in Afghanistan to police. He was held for nearly two years protesting his innocence before all charges against him were dropped. The media would later point to the fact she wore the niqab face covering, and had campaigned against sexual education being taught in schools without due parental notice of its content. he became an active member and began to teach Tafsir and occasionally led the prayers. Although being twice the age of the average participant, he frequently joined youths in games of Cricket and Soccer. He claims to have been approached several times by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in the years prior to his arrest, and asked to give information about community members, including Imam Aly Hindy, which he refused to do.

When local Member of Parliament Wajid Khan began attending the Ar Rahman mosque in the summer of 2005, Jamal introduced him to the congregation saying that he had come to bring messages from the government, and countered that he would like to send the government a message of his own that Canadian troops in Afghanistan were not doing any good. Khan, a former Air Force pilot in Pakistan, interrupted Jamal to state that such comments would not be tolerated, before walking out of the mosque angrily. Khan, who was serving as the chairman of the caucus committee on the Canadian Anti Terrorism Act at the time, later reported Jamal's behavior to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Seven weeks before the arrests, Jamal's wife wrote to Khan complaining about the 32nd Brigade training for Operation Talon for deployment to Afghanistan on the property of her sons' Islamic school in Oakville in full combat gear. She allegedly challenged him, stating that "we've all heard your bark, now let's see what's behind your bite". Maclean's later reported that "the possibility that a member of Parliament was among those who raised the alarm about Jamal is an intriguing twist in the complex story of how police built their case leading to the arrests".

As Jamal left the house for Asr prayers on June 2, he was greeted at the door by members of the Emergency Task Force who entered his house, as another team jumped a fence into his backyard and simultaneously entered the house ordering all occupants to the ground. When he phoned his wife for the first time, he simply advised her that their rent had been paid and the money for their insurance was in the account, and that their car needed to go into a mechanic's. His outspoken wife continued to garner media headlines, as she alleged that "every Muslim is another potential victim", and that federal authorities had been following her every move, cut the brake lines on a colleague's vehicle and made the computers at Kinko's copy store crash when she tried to send a message requesting prayers for her husband. In addition, her past comments in internet forums under the name UmmTayyab became a subject of amateur analysis. In April 2007, she reported that her brother in law had discovered two bullets fired into her Dodge Caravan's engine block. The oldest of the alleged terrorists, Jamal was 43 years old at the time of his arrest. Portrayed as a "spiritual advisor" to the group, he was accused of helping to coordinate bombing attacks against targets in southern Ontario. The media blasted his "extreme interpretations of Islam", and called him an "older, embittered militant". Secular Muslim critic Tarek Fatah reported Jamal as "creating a Islamacist, supremacist cult". "One thing I can tell you for sure this guy was weird," said [ ] a neighbour. "There was one time I said, 'Hi,' and he just looked at me. That was it. "|The Globe and Mail, June 5, 2006

Held at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex with the rest of the suspects, Jamal was represented at trial by defence attorney Anser Farooq. On September 25, 2007, he was denied bail.

On November 5, 2007, Jamal had the most serious charge against him Intent to Cause Explosion dropped, and was released on $100,000 bail, the third alleged terrorist in the group to be freed. Nearly $75,000 of his bail money had been donated by the local Muslim community. He was required to refrain from using the internet, remain in the presence of one of six sureties, and remain under house arrest unless in court, his lawyer's office or at Friday prayers. Mr. Farooq stated that, "we were able to establish, during the preliminary inquiry, that there were a lot of problems with the Crown's case", and evidence elicited during the preliminary inquiry set the stage for Mr. Jamal's release. He cautioned Jamal's wife to "be cautious of what she said", but she nevertheless spoke to several newspapers stating that she believed the couple were owed "millions" in wrongful prosecution damages. Following the public comments that the couple might seek financial reparations, the Chronicle Herald published an editorial cartoon suggesting that the money would be used to finance terrorism. The Centre for Islamic Development subsequently dubbed the cartoon a "hate crime" and reported it to the police.