Canadian court sentences 'incel' attacker as terrorist

By: AFP
Published: 08:57 AM, 29 Nov, 2023
Canadian court sentences 'incel' attacker as terrorist
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A Candian man who murdered a Toronto massage parlor worker and injured another with a sword in the country's first case of terrorism linked to the misogynist "incel" movement was given a life sentence on Tuesday.

The individual, who was not identified because he was only 17 years old at the time of the attack in February 2020, has already pleaded guilty.

He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 10 years for the murder -- the maximum for juvenile offenders -- plus three years to be served concurrently for the attempted murder.

A judge in June had ruled that the attack amounted to terrorism because the teen had been inspired by the "incel" movement, an online group of women-hating men who describe themselves as "involuntarily celibate."

Members of the loose collective have targeted those who they see as attractive or sexually active women and men with violence and online vitriol.

But this case marked the first time in Canada -- and possibly the world -- that authorities recognized gender-based violence as terrorism, which would lengthen the sentence of a convicted offender.

The court heard that the teen had sought out women to attack with a sword. He stabbed to death the massage parlor receptionist, before being disarmed by another woman who was also wounded.

Police said they found a handwritten note in his pocket calling for an "incel" rebellion.

The "incel" group previously made headlines in Canada in 2018 when a man claiming to have been part of the movement drove a rented van onto a busy Toronto sidewalk, killing 11 -- mostly women -- and injuring 16 others.

The attacker, Alek Minassian, was sentenced last year to life in prison for those murders, but was never charged with terrorism.

Categories : Crime