Canadian police charge man with hoax over Islamic State murder claims
A Canadian man whose claims of being a murderous member of Islamic State featured in a popular podcast has been charged with fabricating his story.
Shehroze Chaudhry, 25, was arrested in Burlington, Ontario under the country's terrorism hoax law.
In a statement the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said: "The charge stems from numerous media interviews where the accused claimed he traveled to Syria in 2016 to join the terrorist group and committed acts of terrorism.
"Hoaxes can generate fear within our communities and create the illusion there is a potential threat to Canadians, while we have determined otherwise."
Chaudhry was charged with perpetrating a hoax related to terrorist activity and will appear in court on Nov 16.
In 2018 he featured, as Abu Huzayfah al-Kanadi, in the award-winning New York Times podcast series "Caliphate," which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and has been downloaded millions of times.
On social media he claimed to have carried out two execution-style murders for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and to have been part of its religious police.
The podcast led to heated debate in Canada's parliament with Justin Trudeau being accused of allowing "bloodthirsty terrorists to walk on our streets".
According to families of Canadians who went to join Isil it also had a major impact on their efforts to repatriate relatives.
Sally Lane's son Jack Letts, known as "Jihadi Jack," held dual UK-Canadian citizenship, but was stripped of his British one after going to Syria to join Isil.
She told The Telegraph: "There was a meeting in Sulimaniyah, Iraq, between Canadian officials and the Kurdish autonomous administration (holding the Isil prisoners in Syria), where everything was due to be signed, and then it all came to a halt.
"A British MP who went told us the Canadian citizens were 'only a week away' from being repatriated. That was the great mystery in April 2018, why everything suddenly changed."
Chaudhry, the son of a kebab shop owner, faces a maximum five year prison sentence if convicted.
Canada's law on terrorism hoaxes is usually used in cases of fake bomb threats.
This is the first time it has been used in a case where someone is accused of spreading fear with false claims and wasting police time.
In the Caliphate podcast Chaudhry described murdering a drug dealer.
He said: "The blood was just, it was warm, and it sprayed everywhere, and the guy cried, was crying and screaming.
"It’s hard. I had to stab him multiple times. And then we put him up on a cross, and I had to leave the dagger in his heart."
However, some of his claims were later questioned.
He claimed to have joined Isil in 2014 but documents obtained by Canadian media suggested he was a student in Lahore, Pakistan at that time.
On one occasion he said he was with Isil for just under a year, but another time he said it was less than six months.
Rukmini Callimachi, the journalist behind the podcast, defended her work.
She said "multiple" US intelligence agents had confirmed Chaudhry went to Syria.
She added: "The narrative tension of our podcast 'Caliphate' is the question of whether his account is true. In Chapter 6 we explain the conflicting strands of his story, and what we can and can’t confirm."
A Canadian police spokesman said: "The RCMP takes these allegations very seriously, particularly when individuals, by their actions, cause the police to enter into investigations in which human and financial resources are invested and diverted from other ongoing priorities."
