A father and son accused of plotting an Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack appeared in court Thursday via videolink, though neither was yet represented by a lawyer.
Handcuffed, wearing orange prison garb and making use of an Arabic interpreter, the two, who appeared in separate hearings, listened to the proceedings before the case was put over until Aug. 7. A routine publication ban bars reporting of the content of the hearing.
Police have said that the arrests earlier this week foiled an imminent plot to carry out an attack in Toronto in the name of the Islamic State terrorist group. Authorities said the intended violence would have involved a machete and an axe.
Canadian citizens Ahmed Eldidi, 62, and Mostafa Eldidi, 26, face a series of charges including participating in a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity, conspiring to commit murder, and dangerous-weapons offences.
Police said the older suspect arrested in the case also faces a newly laid charge alleging that in 2015, he committed an aggravated assault in a foreign country “for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with” the Islamic State.
Neighbours of the two suspects in east Toronto have described them as part of an Egyptian family who had arrived in Canada at some point within the past three years.
Police tactical teams carried out co-ordinated arrests and raids related to the Eldidis on Sunday using a drone, a police dog, and breaching equipment. The properties that were raided included the suspects’ Scarborough residence and also a hotel in Richmond Hill.
On Wednesday, members of the RCMP’s federal policing wing announced that they made the arrests with help from several Greater Toronto Area municipal forces. Investigators said they did not know about the suspects or their alleged plot until about a month ago, and that it evolved to the point where it was hours away from being carried out when it was thwarted.
The Islamic State was designated as a terrorist group in Canada in 2012, back when the group’s members had begun carving out a self-styled caliphate out of Syria and Iraq while its leaders urged followers to launch attacks on people in the West.