A man who attacked worshippers at a mosque in Canada with bear spray and an axe last year was sentenced to eight years in prison on Tuesday.
Mohammad Moiz Omar, 24 at the time, stormed into the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, during morning prayers on March 19, 2022 and started spraying. Worshippers took him down and held him until police arrived.
Police investigated the incident as a possible hate crime. Omar pleaded guilty last Wednesday to three charges: administering a noxious substance with intent to endanger life or cause bodily harm, assault with a weapon, and mischief to religious property with motivation of bias, prejudice or hate based on religion, CBC News reported.
Omar’s act, according to a statement of facts agreed to by all parties involved, was “intended to perpetrate a mass casualty event,” and his plea included an admission that his offenses met the Criminal Code definition of terrorism.
The hatchet man also admitted being motivated by intense hatred for Muslims and said he wanted to intimidate them because he believed that Islam is “an intolerant and violent religion,” CBC News reported.
Muslim advocates had not commented late Tuesday afternoon about the sentence, but Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre Imam Ibrahim Hindy told CBC News before the sentencing that eight years would not be enough given that Omar, a former Muslim who referred to himself as an atheist, had admitted planning a much broader attack and wanted to see people die.
“This was not someone having a bad day or having a mental health episode,” Hindy said. “This was someone who planned out clearly what he wanted to do and how he wanted to kill Muslims.
“I’m only grateful that our congregation was able to stop him before he was able to ultimately harm someone.”