Ontario man on terrorism peace bond now in B.C. charged with uttering threats, intimidation of a justice system participant
Daniel Khoshnood was scheduled in BC Supreme Court in Chilliwack Monday in advance of February trial
A Toronto man who the parole board once said scored “unusually high in psychopathy” and who was found with hundreds of ISIS, Al Qaeda and Taliban videos on his phone is facing a trial in BC Supreme Court in the Fraser Valley in February for uttering threats and intimidation of the justice system.
Daniel Khoshnood was put on a terrorism peace bond in August 2021 after he was investigated by the RCMP's Integrated Security Enforcement Team, according to media reports.
Khoshnood came to the attention of police because of his association with Kevin Omar Mohammed who served time for terrorism offences. He was later found with al-Qaeda literature, manuals on bombs and poisons and literature justifying the killing of women and children on his phone.
Parole records show that while imprisoned, Khoshnood requested books on “Islamic extremist militant groups” and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He also wrote a note he knew would be found by corrections staff that said he wanted to learn how a specific terrorist made car bombs that “killed 77 people LOL.”
While the now 33-year-old was investigated, police did not find enough evidence to charge him with terrorism-related offences. Instead he was put on a peace bond, a Stephen Harper-era tool as part of Bill C-51 that allows police who believe a person “may commit” an offence to require that person to follow court-ordered conditions. Specifically, Khoshnood was ordered to wear an ankle bracelet, agree to a driving ban and he was required to take a "deradicalization" program.
That 10-month peace bond ended June 6, 2022, after which he was arrested by the RCMP and charged with one count of intimidating a justice system participant and four counts of uttering threats from when he was in jail in B.C. eight years ago. At that time he was serving a seven-year term at Kent Institution following a conviction in Ontario for robbery with a firearm and using bear spray on two people.
After his arrest in 2022 in Toronto he was transferred to B.C. where he remains in custody awaiting trial, which is now scheduled in BC Supreme Court in Chilliwack starting Feb. 18, 2025.
For his part, Khoshnood told Vancouver Sun reporter Keith Fraser in a phone interview in January 2023 that when was arrested, he was abiding by his conditions, and was employed and attempting to rehabilitate. He denies he threatened anyone in prison and questions the police decision to arrest him on the dated offences and move him to B.C.
“I was caught with stuff on my phone, I’m not going to deny that," Koshnood told. Fraser. “But I agreed to a peace bond to get on with my life.”
What about the terrorist material downloaded on his phone? He said he likes to study political science and history.
“So having these materials is a study. It’s part of my political science study. If I had white supremacist propaganda, does that mean I’m a white supremacist?”
Going back years, the parole board said that Khoshnood told a psychologist that he had thoughts of “shooting people, killing people, cutting them up, just for fun … they’re just thoughts though.”
His trial on the B.C. charges is scheduled to begin Feb. 18, 2025.
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Paul J. Henderson
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