Calgary man's terrorism charges stem from TikTok video he posted: court documents

A Calgary man charged with terrorism-related charges last week is accused of posting a TikTok video that contributed to or facilitated terrorist activity for al Qaeda and ISIS.

That's according to court documents alleging the man posted a bomb-making video on May 14, which also happened to be his 20th birthday.

Zakarya Rida Hussein faces four charges including two counts of facilitating a terrorist activity and two counts of participating in or contributing to -- directly or indirectly -- an activity of a terrorist group.

"This highlights the dangers that social media can bring," said Kelly Sundberg, a criminologist at Mount Royal University.

Hussein was living with family in Marlborough.

The documents also allege that between June 1 and June 15, Hussein tried to enhance the ability of a terrorist group to carry out its activities.

Doug King, justice studies professor at Mount Royal University, says law enforcement can be made aware of these videos due to their publicity.

"One could suggest he was also intending on getting caught," said King.

"It doesn't necessarily matter that the young man was intending on carrying out the actions but was he facilitating or promoting these actions."

Calgary group Muslims Against Terrorism says there's a common thread between many young men being radicalized.

"A lot of people who are taking the extreme path or who are taking the violent path ... most of them, if not all of them, have been diagnosed with mental illness," said founder Syed Soharwardy.

"Extremist groups, they live in our society, they live among us, although they are in very small minority, but they are very destructive."

Damian Clairmont died while fighting for ISIS in Syria in 2014.

He was originally from Calgary before being recruited in 2012.

His mom, Christianne Boudreau, says he was radicalized by the Islamic State.

"There's a huge gap, and it's a gap (that) has grown even larger compared to back in the day when Damian was going through everything," said Boudreau from France.

She says there are no supports in place to help people who get caught in the dark web.

"It takes a village to raise a child," said Boudreau.

King says if Hussein is convicted, the crimes he's alleged to have committed could see a sentence of at least 14 years in prison.

Hussein has a bail hearing on June 30.