ISIS attempted to incite further attacks against Canadians on Sunday, issuing a propaganda video in which an Ottawa extremist scolded the government for joining the international military coalition fighting the terrorist group.
The six-minute video said Canadians would be indiscriminately targeted and that Muslims were obliged to either join ISIS or “follow the example” of the attackers who struck in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
“You either pack your bags, or prepare your explosive devices. You either purchase your airline ticket, or you sharpen your knife,” said the video, produced by a propaganda group linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham.
The speaker identified himself as Abu Anwar al-Canadi, but five former friends said they recognized him as John Maguire, a University of Ottawa dropout who converted to Islam and became radicalized before vanishing last year.
“To think a person who I used to stand next to in prayer three years ago would turn out like this is unbelievable,” a former university acquaintance, who disagreed with Mr. Maguire’s extremist views, said after watching the video.
Looking gaunt and sounding alien to those who knew him in Canada, he spoke in English and seemed to read from a script. The camera shots appeared to be staged to show ruined buildings and a mosque dome in the background.
The video is part of a propaganda push by ISIS that appears designed to attract recruits and use the threat of terrorism to deter the U.S.-led air campaign that has killed hundreds of fighters and, according to military officials, stalled the group’s advance.
“It follows quite closely to the theme of a variety of videos aimed at Western audiences, like the video aimed at French Muslims a few weeks ago,” said Professor Amarnath Amarasingam of the Dalhousie University Resilience Research Centre, who is studying Canadian foreign fighters.
“The interrelated themes are of course ones of religious obligation: if a caliphate has been established and Muslims have been persecuted by the state you are living in, you are required to leave the state you are living in. The risk of staying is hellfire. Maguire’s video is similar to the video aimed at French Muslims, asking a simple question: what are you waiting for?”
