TORONTO — A doctor who conducted a psychiatric assessment on a man found guilty of terrorism charges in a plot to derail a passenger train says Raed Jaser was motivated by a severe drug addiction.
Dr. Jess Ghannam is telling a Toronto court Jaser did not have any consistent radical Islamic ideology but conned people because he was desperate to stay high.
He also says Jaser is a good candidate for rehabilitation.
Ghannam specializes in terrorism cases and conducted interviews with Jaser’s parents, brother, wife and sister-in-law as part of his assessment. His testimony is being heard at a sentencing hearing for Jaser.
Jaser and his co-accused, Chiheb Esseghaier, were found guilty in March of a terror-related conspiracy to commit murder, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison.
The jury also found the men guilty of a total of six other terror-related.