months in jail Friday after pleading guilty to raising money for the
Tamil Tigers, a terrorist group dedicated to creating a separate Tamil
state in Sri Lanka.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Powers said he realized such a
sentence would not deter fanatics from fundraising for terrorist groups
but would discourage the likes of Thambithurai who appeared to have
been a good citizen since coming to Canada in 1988.
Powers said Thambithurai knew that a portion of the money he was collecting for ostensibly humanitarian purposes would be going to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which the Canadian government declared to be a terrorist organization in 2006. Thambithurai is the first person to be convicted under Canada’s anti-terrorism financing law which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
The Crown had asked for a sentence of two years, while defence lawyer Rick Peck sought a suspended sentence of three years.
The Toronto resident was arrested in Vancouver in March 2008, while on a fundraising trip for the World Tamil Movement, an organization that collected money for humanitarian relief in Sri Lanka but which the RCMP said was a front for the LTTE.
Thambithurai was arrested after he had collected $600 cash from a former neighbour, Sri Thevendram, a Burnaby baker, and a pledge for $300 from another person. In car, the RCMP found a number of calenders and CDs supporting the armed struggle for a Tamil homeland.
Thambithurai had admitted to police that he knew half the money he was collecting would go to the Tamil Tigers. Outside the court his wife, Uthaya, said it was wrong him to be sentenced to jail for collecting money for humanitarian aid. “He’s going to jail for that?” she asked. “He was raising money to feed needy people.”
She denied any of the money would support violence. Instead, she said, it was the Sri Lankan government that was committing terrorist acts against the Tamils.
Holding up photographs of young Tamils living in concentration camps in Sri Lanka — many with severe injuries — she argued these were the people her husband was helping. A large number of Tamil supporters were in court to hear the sentence, including Thevendram. Standing alongside Uthaya hambithurai, he said he made his donation for humanitarian purposes and denied it was to finance terrorism. He admitted, though, that he had given money to the LTTE until 2006 when Canada declared it a terrorist rganization.
Insp. Paul Richards, the head of E Division’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, labelled the successful prosecution “a hallmark case.” He said he was pleased a jail sentence was handed out. “In terms of terrorist fund raising within the community we view this as an important case. We believe
this is the way to deal with it. For us it’s a milestone,” said Richards.
“This is the kind of terrorist action that takes place at the local level, on the streets and in people’s homes and it affects people in Canada. It’s the kind of terrorist activity that’s not remote or something that’s taking place far away,” he said. “Money and fundraising is the lifeblood of terrorism. We find hardworking people being preyed upon by terrorist groups just because they have succeeded in Canada,” he said.
There are at least 42 international groups that are listed as terrorist rganizations by Canada. Richards said fund raising activities by such groups in Canada was “still on our radar.” “If we gather any evidence we’ll pursue it. That’s why this first one sets an important precedent,”
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