Brampton, Ont.-Sentencing of a young Canadian to 14 years in jail for his role in a terrorist plot to set off a series of fertilizer bombs in hopes of convincing the country to pull its troops out of Afghanistan still could be appealed by either the public prosecution service or the defense. Saad Khalid, 23, was sentenced in Ontario Superior Court Sept. 3 as the second of the so-called “Toronto 18,” who planned three days of attacks on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada’s spy agency headquarters, and a military base using rented vans stuffed with explosives they planned to build from ammonium nitrate. Khalid was among 14 adults and four minors charged after they allegedly sought to purchase three tons of the fertilizer from undercover police officers, who had replaced the bomb-making material with a harmless substance. The first of 18 suspected plotters to be convicted after their arrest in 2006 during the police sting operation was a minor who was convicted and sentenced to 2½ years for terrorist activity, but released because of his three years in custody awaiting trial. Khalid pleaded guilty May 5 to “… intent to cause an explosion of an explosive substance likely to cause serious bodily harm or death to persons or damage to property.” Now the Public Prosecution Service and the defense have 30 days to appeal the sentence, according to prosecution spokesman Dan Brien. Brien said the prosecution service had asked for 20 years of jail time, while the defense wanted Khalid to spend eight to 10 years.
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