A Fort St. John man has been acquitted of terrorism charges. Othman Hamdan was arrested in July 2015, following an investigation that began the previous October.
RCMP had been looking into Facebook posts published between those two years, accusing him of posting pro-ISIS propaganda. According to CBC News, the court heard he praised the attacks on Parliament Hill and in Quebec, and published a how-to guide for similar attacks.
Hamdan plead not guilty to all charges against him, arguing the posts were taken out of context. He said they should be considered political satire, and were trying to explain why those events were happening.
The Vancouver Sun reports the judge in his case ruled that while the posts may have been offensive, they weren’t necessarily encouraging acts of murder, assault or terrorism, as alleged by the Crown. Justice Bruce Butler also took issue with mounties only taking screenshots of the Facebook postings and not other content that could have provided context.