Crown appeals verdict in case of woman acquitted in alleged terror case

MONTREAL — The Crown has filed an appeal against a Montreal woman found not guilty on terror-related charges.

A jury acquitted Sabrine Djermane last December of attempting to leave Canada to commit a terror act abroad; possession of an explosive substance; and committing an act under the direction or for the profit of a terrorist organization.

Prosecutors are appealing the verdict on the explosive substance charge.

They say in a document filed at the Quebec Court of Appeal this week the trial judge committed an error instructing the jury on the “interpretation and definition of the term ‘explosive substance.’”

The Crown is asking the court to overturn the acquittal and order a new trial on the single charge.

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Her co-accused, El Mahdi Jamali, was found guilty of the explosives-related charge but also found not guilty on the two other charges.

A judge previously withdrew a fourth charge, facilitating a terrorist act, against the two.

Detained since 2015, both were released following the verdicts.

They are still subject to various conditions, including staying away from one particular Montreal mosque, not speaking to anyone in Syria, avoiding social media and any terrorism-related documents, and reporting to authorities every week.

The Crown argued during the trial that the accused — a couple at the time — were ready to leave Canada to join Daesh in Syria and had accumulated the ingredients and information necessary to make an explosive device.

The Canadian Press