The Return of Fateh Kamel

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

The National Post reports that one of Canada's most notorious terrorists, Fateh Kamel, has returned home to Montreal as a free man following a four-year stint in a French prison.

Kamel has an impressive terrorist CV.  After fighting in both the Afghan and Bosnian wars, Kamel became the head of a Montreal-based terrorist cell that was part of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) but "also developed close links to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network."  A document from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service explains that Kamel "played a central role in the wave of terrorist attacks that erupted in France toward the middle of the 1990s, notably the plot to commit bomb attacks in Paris metro stations and a series of attacks in the city of Roubaix, in northern France."  The Post states that Kamel also travelled through Europe with a right-hand man named Karim Said Atmani, who "ran a ring that committed low-level crimes such as cellular phone thefts to raise money for their militant activities."  Another member of the GIA-linked Groupe Fateh Kamel was Ahmed Ressam, who was convicted in the millennium bombing plot to blow up LAX.  Kamel was eventually imprisoned by a French court for "participating in a criminal association for the purposes of preparing acts of terrorism," and for providing fake passports to Islamic militants.  Although Kamel was sentenced to eight years in prison, he was released after only four years for good behavior.

Peter McKay, deputy leader of the Conservative Party, argues that the Canadian government should revoke Kamel's citizenship.  He comments, "By all means we should be examining revocation, and certainly there is cause for the Canadian government, for our officials, to examine whether he was truthful at the time of his entry into this country."

One question:  How in the world did Kamel end up spending a mere four years in prison?

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