Former Calgary man Farah Mohamed Shirdon 1 of 2 Canadians added to U.S. terrorist list
The U.S. Department of State has added two Canadians to its most-wanted global terrorist list.
Farah Mohamed Shirdon and Tarek Sakr were named as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists," according to a release from the State Department.
The designation "imposes sanctions on foreign persons determined to have committed, or pose a serious risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States."
Former Calgary resident Shirdon left Canada to fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
He was a student at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology until at least 2012 and was said to be radicalized at a now-closed mosque in downtown Calgary.
In 2014, the Toronto-born Shirdon was captured on video burning his Canadian passport and threatening Canada, the U.S. and "all oppressors."
The State Department said Shirdon is a prominent ISIS fighter and recruiter, who has also been involved in fundraising.
In 2015, RCMP charged Shirdon in absentia in with numerous terrorism-related criminal offences. That same year, Interpol added him to its wanted list.
Tarek Sakr, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, was a pharmacology student in Quebec. According to the U.S. State Department, Sakr has been linked to the foreign terrorist organization al-Nusrah Front, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.
The designation prohibits U.S citizens from engaging in transactions with Sakr or Shirdon.
