On Friday March 21, CBC announced that Chiheb Battikh pleaded guilty to attempting to kidnap the grandson of a Quebec billionaire for ransom. Battikh was having financial trouble and intended to demand a ransom of $500,000 from the wealthy family of the three-year-old victim. The attack occurred in broad daylight, around four o’clock in the afternoon. Unsure whether Battikh would be released before his trial, the toddler’s family hired bodyguards and left Montreal for the protection of their child and their own. After his arrest, Chiheb Batikh was defended by Me Denise Fernet, a court-ordered counsel, who was rapidly replaced by Me Marc Labelle, a prominent criminal lawyer in Montreal. Battikh’s leadership role with the Muslim Association of Canada was not mentioned by the CBC but it was referred to by Montreal La Presse after Battikh’s conviction. Kidnappings for ransom are very rare in Montreal and in Canada in general. However, many cases of Coptic Christians being kidnapped by Islamists for ransom have been reported in Egypt in recent years. rightsidenews/2014032534040/editorial/world-opinion-and-editorial/chiheb-battikh-leader-of-the-muslim-association-of-canada-s-education-department-convicted-of-kidnapping.html
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 22:42:05 +0000
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