Barbed wire around the Bordeaux prison, also known as the Montreal Detention Centre is seen in Montreal's Ahuntsic-Cartierville neighbourhood, on Jan. 4, 2023. Muhammad Shahzeb Khan is being detained here until his next court appearance in December, 2024.Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail
A 20-year-old arrested in Quebec over an alleged terror plot to kill Jewish people in New York City will be back again in a Montreal court in December regarding his possible extradition to the United States.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a Pakistani national living in Ontario, was arrested on Sept. 4 in Ormstown, Que., allegedly on his way across the border into New York State.
U.S. authorities say that Mr. Khan, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, intended to use “automatic and semi-automatic weapons” in a mass shooting at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn around Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that left more than 1,000 people dead and prompted the war in Gaza.
U.S. Department of Justice authorities allege he began planning his attack in November, 2023.
Mr. Khan has been charged with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization, and U.S. officials are seeking to have him extradited to stand trial.
During a brief Superior Court hearing in Montreal Friday, Justice Hélène Di Salvo set his next hearing for Dec. 6. By then, the extradition case should be ready to go forward, said Erin Morgan, a lawyer for the Attorney-General of Canada.
Gaétan Bourassa, Mr. Khan’s lawyer, said his client is detained at the Montreal Detention Centre, also known as Bordeaux jail.
In an interview, Mr. Bourassa said the actual extradition hearing will probably occur early next year. He could not yet say whether he would oppose the move or contest the accusations his client faces in the U.S. given that he has not yet seen the evidence against Mr. Khan.
“We will see what the evidence they pretend to have is, and then we will see what we want to do,” Mr. Bourassa said. “For now, it is much too early.”
Earlier this week, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Mr. Khan arrived in Canada in June, 2023, on a student visa.
Mr. Khan does not face any criminal terrorism charges in Canada, even though police and prosecutors have suggested they considered laying them.
In a statement last week, the RCMP said when its officers arrested Mr. Khan in Ormstown he was taken into custody “pursuant to” several potential Criminal Code offences – including allegations that he was attempting to leave Canada to commit a terrorist offence and that he had been a participant in a terrorist group.
However, the Mounties say that once Mr. Khan was in custody they rearrested him on U.S. extradition charges. Court records show that no Canadian charges have since been formally sworn against him.
“No Canadian charges have been laid against Mr. Khan at this time,” said Nathalie Houle, a spokeswoman for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. The federal prosecutorial agency is the lead agency for all terrorism cases in Canada. Such cases can only go forward with consent from a federal or provincial attorney-general.
According to the Canadian government’s website, a person may be extradited only if the alleged conduct is recognized as a crime by both countries.
At the extradition hearing, “the judge must determine if the evidence provided by the extradition partner is sufficient to commit the person for trial in Canada if the conduct had occurred in this country,” the website says. If so, the judge will “order the person committed for extradition pending the decision of the Minister of Justice on surrender.”
The minister has the final say on whether a person will be surrendered to, in this case, U.S. authorities.
In 2022-23, the last year for which data is available, there were 37 incoming U.S. extradition requests in Canada, according to the federal government. That year, 17 people were surrendered and two were discharged (the whole process can span more than one year).
Editor’s note: The photo caption has been updated to correct the location of the Bordeaux prison.