Zakaria Amara was born on August 18,1985 and is one of 17 people detained on June 2 and 3,2006, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests.
22 Facts About Zakaria Amara
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Zakaria Amara was convicted for planning to launch terrorist attacks against targets in Southern Ontario and was believed to be one of the ringleaders.
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Zakaria Amara was born in Jordan and baptized as an Orthodox Christian.
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Zakaria Amara moved to Saudi Arabia at the age of four, and converted to Islam at the age of ten.
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Zakaria Amara moved to Cyprus, his mother's home country, when he was 10 and stayed there until 1997, when he immigrated to Canada at the age of 13.
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Zakaria Amara married, moved into a basement apartment with his in-laws on Periwinkle Crescent, and enrolled at Humber College where he was studying Electronics Engineering Technology.
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Zakaria Amara was an Honour Roll student in high school and later dropped out of Ryerson University.
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Zakaria Amara is considered one of the ringleaders in the plot and was originally close to Fahim Ahmad.
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Zakaria Amara grew tired with his lack of action and broke away from Ahmed's group.
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Zakaria Amara had looked at websites which led investigators to believe he was trying to find instructions on bomb making.
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In February 2006, Mubin Shaikh reported to police that Zakaria Amara had shown him a primitive detonator he had built to be activated by cell phone.
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Zakaria Amara is alleged to have brought Shareef Abdelhaleem into his plot, giving him money.
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The Mississauga apartment of the 20-year-old Zakaria Amara was surrounded by police, who positioned snipers on the rooftops of nearby houses.
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On September 19,2006, Zakaria Amara was denied bail in a Brampton courtroom.
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Zakaria Amara was charged with four offences under Canada's Anti-terrorism Act: two counts of receiving terrorist training and participating in a terrorist group, one count of recruiting for a terrorist group and one count of intent to set off an explosion with the aim of causing bodily harm or great damage.
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On October 8,2009, Zakaria Amara pleaded guilty to two counts: "knowingly participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion for the benefit of a terrorist group".
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Zakaria Amara stated he had learned how to construct a fertilizer bomb over the internet and planned to use it on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
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On January 18,2010, Zakaria Amara was sentenced 21 months' imprisonment for the camp plot.
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On January 21,2010, Zakaria Amara's sentence was extended to life imprisonment.
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On February 25,2016, the Canadian government introduced legislation that could allow Zakaria Amara to regain his Canadian citizenship.
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Zakaria Amara was the only person whose citizenship was stripped under the Conservative government's Bill C-24.
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Zakaria Amara was granted day parole in November 2022 and has since found employment.