MONTREAL — New criminal charges have been laid against Mohamed Abdullah Warsame, a 52-year-old Somali-born Canadian citizen with past ties to al-Qaida, as his defence lawyer raises serious concerns about his mental health.
Warsame, who is currently homeless, appeared in Quebec court by video conference on Thursday, facing additional allegations that he issued threats from jail to blow up Passport Canada offices in Montreal and Quebec City. The new charges include uttering threats and perpetrating a terrorist hoax.
These allegations come months after Warsame was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in June, when he was charged with uttering threats after allegedly telling staff at a Montreal homeless shelter that he planned to bomb the city’s public transit system.
Following the court appearance, defence lawyer Leonard Waxman said his client suffers from severe mental illness and has recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Waxman emphasized that Warsame’s psychiatric condition is central to the case and said he is seeking options for medical intervention alongside the legal process.
“He really has deep psychiatric problems,” Waxman said, adding that while incarceration remains possible, treatment should be a key consideration.
Warsame previously pleaded guilty in the United States in 2009 to providing material support to al-Qaida, after attending training camps in Afghanistan in 2000 and meeting the group’s founder, Osama bin Laden. He served more than seven years in U.S. federal prison and was deported to Canada in 2010.
His lawyer told the court that Warsame has no current connections to terrorist organizations and lacks the means to carry out any real threat. He also noted that Warsame has no fixed address, no income, and no provincial health coverage, describing a cycle in which incarceration is followed by a return to homelessness.
Following Warsame’s June arrest, the federal Crown invoked a rarely used terrorism provision under the Criminal Code that could result in a life sentence if he is convicted over the alleged threats to Montreal’s metro system — a significant escalation from the usual maximum of five years for uttering threats.
Federal Crown prosecutor Samuel Monfette-Tessier confirmed that discussions with the defence are ongoing and that all legal options remain under consideration.
Warsame is scheduled to return to court on March 9, as negotiations between the Crown and defence continue.