Unsealed documents reveal past of Edmonton terror convict

An Edmonton gas station employee convicted in the U.K. of a terrorism offence came to the attention of the RCMP after returning to Canada from Lebanon in 2017, records obtained by Global News reveal.

The unsealed court documents show that Khaled Hussein, sentenced to five years last week for joining extremist group Al-Muhajiroun in 2020, was born in Alberta but spent much of his life in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

At age seven, he moved with his family to Lebanon to learn Arabic and because “things were difficult for Muslims in Edmonton” following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, his mother wrote in a witness statement.

Sherri Hanson said her son attended schools in Lebanon and moved back to Edmonton seven years ago when he was 22. According to the British court, he joined Al-Muhajiroun three years later.

“Prior to going to London, Khaled was his normal self and there was no change in him,” she wrote.

The mother’s statement was among documents released to Global News by a British judge after Hussein was convicted of belonging to Al-Muhajiroun, which is headed by pro-ISIS preacher Anjem Choudary.

Supporters of Al-Muhajiroun carried out the 2017 London Bridge killings and the murder of Lee Rigby, among other terrorist attacks, while others have joined the so-called Islamic State.

Al-Muhajiroun is “a radical organization intent on spreading Sharia law to as much of the world as possible using violent means where necessary,” the judge wrote in the sentencing decision.

The unsealed court documents contain previously unpublicized details about the life of Hussein, 29, a Canadian who arrived in the U.K. on July 17, 2023 and was immediately arrested by the London police Counter Terrorism Command.

The arrest was the result of an RCMP