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Posted Saturday, October 23, 2004

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Haas's mother Sonia is convinced there is more to the story. She said there may have been others involved who left her son to take the blame.



Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, Tuesday, October 18, 2004

 

Arrested for threats

click for origin

David Irving comments:

WE MUST take no pleasure in being proved right yet again about the origins of these artificial "racist outrages."
   We were greeted with frank disbelief, then skepticism, when we cited to New Zealand journalists in August 2004 the astonishing statistic that no fewer than eighty percent of such outrages, when arrests are made, prove to have been the handiwork of disordered members of the community itself and not its perceived enemies.
   For whatever reason these people acted, the results were the same: Public outpourings of sympathy, funds for their community defence organisations, and sometimes even the enactment of fresh laws targeting those who were in fact innocent.
   Of course, Haas too may be innocent of the charges against him in this respect. He is not guilty until proven so in a court of law. It is not impossible, as his mother hints, that he has been used as a pawn by immensely more powerful agencies.
   If he is ultimately convicted, then we cannot help but feel sorrow and sympathy for the tortured and, indeed, disordered mind which was capable of manifesting such outward hatred toward those whom he identified as his enemies.
   Sympathy and sorrow: Those surely are the proper Christian responses in a case as disturbing as this.

By Robyn Doolittle

 

Kevin Haas (Artist rendition: James Levergood)

A MAN has been arrested in connection with death threats and hate literature found at Ryerson.

Kevin Haas, 21, has been charged with two counts of threatening death, and seven counts of mischief under $5,000. The Crown is seeking the attorney general's approval to also charge

Haas with hate crimes.

Haas is not a student at Ryerson, nor is he a member of the Ryerson community.

"Haas has been a person of interest because of his relationship with a couple of people on campus," said Det. Matt Moyer, the lead investigator in the case, at a press conference held at Ryerson yesterday.

Throughout the years, members of Ryerson's Jewish student group, Hillel, knew of Haas from various non-Ryerson events. But the group is not acquainted with him.

Ryerson security had been on alert since late last week, when both the Arab and Muslim Student Associations found death threats slipped under their office doors.

Nahla Darkazanli, president of the ASA, discovered a threatening flyer in her office on Thursday evening and immediately called Ahmed Arshi, president of the MSA.

No one had been in the ASA office since the previous Tuesday.

Friday morning, Arshi found the same flyer in his office. The presidents took the flyers to security together, and police were notified that afternoon.

How it went down...

June 23 - Multifaith Centre is spray painted with the Jewish Star of David and the words "Die Muslim Die."

July - Posters threatening death are found around Jorgenson Hall. In one of the posters, a group calling itself "FBC Ridaz" takes responsibility for the June 23 spray paint.

"Full Blooded Israelis Brigades," took responsibility for another poster.

More graffiti appears sporadically throughout the summer.

August - Ahmed Arshi, president of the Muslim Student Association, finds a note in the group's mailbox saying "Your president is next."

Oct. 14 - Group calling itself "Notorious Motionz" slips notes under the doors of the MSA and the Arab Student Association saying "Those who follow the Islam faith need to be killed in the worst possible way imaginable."

Oct. 18 - Morning - the ASA is informed by Ryerson Security that the sign by their office was defaced and removed.

Oct. 18 - Evening - Ryerson Security catches Kevin Haas, 21, allegedly putting up inciteful literature by the ASA office. He is arrested at 7:25 p.m. and charged with seven counts of mischief under $5,000 and two counts of threatening death.

 

The flyers display a black and white photo of a white male with a caption that says: "Those who follow the Islam faith need to be killed in the worst possible way imaginable."

Of all the hate literature left on campus, the most recent is by far the worst, according to Moyer.

When Darkazanli went to the ASA office Monday morning, her group's signboard was gone and a message from security awaited her saying that the sign had been vandalized the day before.

That night, two plainclothes security officers were patrolling the third floor of the Podium Building around 7:30 p.m. They noticed a suspicious man pinning a flyer outside the ASA's office. Security apprehended the man without a struggle. He was later handed over to Toronto police.

Police are not seeking other suspects in the case. But Haas's mother Sonia is convinced there is more to the story. She said there may have been others involved who left her son to take the blame. Sonia said her son couldn't have written the flyers the ASA and MSA received, although she said she has never seen them.

After being held overnight on Monday, Haas appeared in court around 1 p.m. yesterday. He was escorted into the courtroom wearing a waist length, black leather jacket and dark, baggy jeans. His mother Sonia sat in the back right row. She wore a pair of large brown sunglasses that hid her eyes.

She told reporters she is worried she will never be able to show her face in a synagogue because of the media coverage. Moyer sat with her and quietly answered her frequent questions during the proceedings.

Haas travelled to Israel this past summer and also started attending an Orthodox synagogue because he felt that conservative temples are becoming too reformed.

Moyer's investigation of the hate literature and threats at Ryerson leads back to last summer, when the campus was vandalized with anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic graffiti. Racist posters were also found scattered throughout Jorgenson Hall.

Late last June, the words "Die Muslim Die" and the Star of David were spray painted outside Ryerson's Multifaith Centre. Towards the end of July, hateful flyers were posted in Jorgenson by a group calling itself "FBC Ridaz." Farber in awkward conferenceIn the flyers, the group took responsiblity for the previous month's graffiti.

Another group posted hate literature that read: "The Islamic infidels have no belonging in Toronto and in the world at all. Islam is a disease that has made its way into the world and it must be eradicated." This group called itself the "Full Blooded Israelis Brigades."

 

Photo: 51 Division's superintendant Randal Munroe of Toronto police, speaks to media, students, faculty and staff about the arrest Tuesday afternoon at Ryerson. Next to him are Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Omar Alghabra of the Canadian Arab Federation, and Claude Lajeunesse, Ryerson president.

 

 

 
Oct 19, 2004: Woman Charged In Swastika Graffiti Spree
Surprise arrest in hate campaign at Ryerson - Bid to Fuel Jewish, Arab Tensions on Canadian Campus |
Aug 30, 2004: Jew held over Paris fire: Crude slogans at the scene suggested an anti-Semitic motive
Outrage among New York Jews that FBI is not hiring them
Aug 18, 2004: Jury convicts California professor in staged hate-crime case
Suspicions voiced that New Zealand Jews smashed up their own cemetery | David Irving ups reward offer to $5,000
Jul 13, 2004: 'Anti-Jewish train attack' on Mother, baby in Paris now in doubt

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