Nejib Belhaj-Chtioui pleads guilty to terror hoax charges

Nejib Belhaj-Chtioui has been sentenced to 20 months behind bars after he pleaded guilty Monday to two terror hoax charges.

Belhaj-Chtioui was arrested on Dec. 7, 2014 at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport after he disembarked from a flight from Tunisia.

The Criminal Code of Canada states that a hoax regarding a terrorist activity includes someone who says or does something to lead others to believe that a terrorist act could occur — knowing it is not true.

According to an arrest warrant, Belhaj-Chtioui transmitted information and committed acts that investigators believed could be linked to terrorist activities. The information in question was found on Facebook dating back to May 2011. ​

After pleading guilty in court today, a judge sentenced him to 20 months in jail, which leaves Belhaj-Chtioui with eight months left to serve.

Once he is released, he will have several conditions to abide by, including restricted access to the internet.

Belhaj-Chtioui can only have internet access at work and at home, and he must provide police with his IP address at all times. He is also forbidden from using social media.

Before today's guilty plea, a trial for Belhaj-Chtioui had been scheduled to begin on April 25, 2016 and was expected to last five weeks.

Hoax Regarding Terrorist Activity

83.231 (1) Every one commits an offence who, without lawful excuse and with intent to cause any person to fear death, bodily harm, substantial damage to property or serious interference with the lawful use or operation of property,

(a) conveys or causes or procures to be conveyed information that, in all the circumstances, is likely to cause a reasonable apprehension that terrorist activity is occurring or will occur, without believing the information to be true; or

(b) commits an act that, in all the circumstances, is likely to cause a reasonable apprehension that terrorist activity is occurring or will occur, without believing that such activity is occurring or will occur.

Source: Criminal Code of Canada