Extradited on terror charges

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Sayfildin Tahir Sharif, 38, is shown in a 2011 court released photo. The Alberta Court of Appeal has ruled that Sharif should be extradited to the United States to face terrorism and murder charges. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

The Alberta Court of Appeal has ruled that an Edmonton man should be extradited to the United States to face terrorism and murder charges.

Sayfildin Tahir Sharif is accused of murder and supporting a terrorist group that took part in a suicide bombing in his native Iraq.

Five U.S. soldiers were killed when a truck filled with explosives was detonated at a military checkpoint in 2009.

Sharif, who also goes by Faruq Khalil Muhammad Isa as well as another name, has been in custody in Edmonton since his arrest in January 2011.

Canada's justice minister granted extradition last summer after receiving assurances from the U.S. that Sharif wouldn't face the death penalty.

Defence lawyers also received a letter from U.S. authorities promising the man wouldn't be held indefinitely in pre-trial detention.

Sharif was appealing the justice minister's decision as well as a judge's original ruling in 2012 that there was enough evidence to extradite Sharif on two charges.

Sharif is an ethnic Kurd who was born in Iraq but moved to Toronto as a refugee in 1993. Four years later, he became a Canadian citizen.

In 2011, he was arrested at an Edmonton apartment where he lived with his girlfriend and her children.

Defence lawyers had argued before the Appeal Court that RCMP didn't allow Sharif access to a lawyer or interpreter the day of his arrest, and transcripts of police interviews show he didn't understand what was going on.

They also said allegations against their client came from three people, including his brother, who were tortured by investigators in Iraq.

The Appeal Court ruled that none of the arguments merited keeping Sharif in Canada.