Court appearance for Montreal man charged with terrorism-related offence postponed to January
Posted October 1, 2025 8:59 am.
Last Updated October 1, 2025 11:01 am.
The Montreal man whose charge of uttering threats is being treated as a terrorist offence for allegedly telling a homeless shelter worker that he understood how to make explosives, wanted to make bombs and then use them on public transit to kill a large number of people, was to make his next court appearance on Wednesday but was postponed to January.
Legal aid lawyer Vincent Petit, who was representing the 51-year old Mohammed Abdullah Warsame, had said earlier this year that there is a realistic probability his client will plead guilty on Oct. 1 in front of the Court of Quebec.
On Wednesday, the court appearance was postponed to Jan. 8. No plea was entered today.
“Today there was a change of counsel for Mr. Warsame. So the new counsel entered the file,” said Samuel Monfette-Tessier, a federal Crown prosecutor. “Right now he needs to make a choice whether or not he wants a trial, a trial in front of a jury, a trial in front of a judge alone. So this is why there’s a next court date. It’s for him to take time and make a decision.”
Because the charge of uttering threats against Warsame is now being treated as a terrorist offence, the maximum punishment increases from five years to life in prison.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has revealed that Warsame, a Somali-born Canadian, attended lectures by Osama Bin Laden and spent 92 months in an American federal prison after pleading guilty in 2009 for providing material support to al-Qaida.
“I’m just entering the file today,” said attorney, Leonard Waxman. “I want to go over the proof and I want to have a meeting with the Crown Prosecutor to see if we can settle the case amicably.”
When asked by journalists why Warsame changed lawyers, Waxman explained that he got a call from Warsame’s family in Minnesota.
“He was represented by legal aid,” explained Waxman. “By a very competent lawyer at legal aid but his family wanted to engage the services of a private lawyer.”
Warsame underwent a psychiatric evaluation at the Philippe-Pinel Psychiatric Institute to determine if he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of his alleged crime, but this report is not available to the public after it was put under seal at the request of the defence.
-With files from Gareth Madoc-Jones
