Terror plot ringleader of Jihadist group ‘Toronto 18,’ which planned to bomb several locations and storm government, granted full release because parole board says he’s ‘polite and quiet’

Zakaria Amara, identified as the ringleader of the Toronto 18 terrorist plot, has been granted full parole in Ontario. The decision means he can live at home and work, subject to restrictions, after the Parole Board of Canada concluded he had distanced himself from extremist beliefs and made positive changes during supervised release.

Amara, now 41, pleaded guilty in 2009 to helping organise a plot to bomb three sites: the Toronto Stock Exchange Tower, CSIS headquarters and a military base. Police arrested him in 2006, before the planned use of explosives containing ammonium nitrate and metal chips; about 400 officers took part in raids. He received a life sentence with no parole for 10 years for plotting to make a bomb, as well as a nine-year sentence for organising a terrorist training camp, and was granted day parole in 2022. Full parole requires him to continue counselling and financial monitoring, restricts his phone and internet use, and bars contact with criminal associates and people holding extremist views.