Man who threatened to plant a bomb in ‘every synagogue in Toronto’ sentenced to house arrest
Waisuddin Akbari was sentenced for his comments, with the judge confirming that no preparation attempts had been made to follow through on the threat
A man convicted for making comments threatening the Jewish communities and synagogues of Toronto has been sentenced to 60 days of house arrest, the Canadian Jewish News reports.
Waissudin Akbari, married with two children, made the comments on March 4, 2024, to a salesperson at a local car dealership whom he believed would be sympathetic to his plans.
According to court documents, Afghanistan-born Akbari told the salesperson he would “plant a bomb in every synagogue in Toronto and blow them up to kill as many Jews as possible.”
Police found no evidence that he had taken any steps to follow through on his comments.
Akbari also received the maximum three years of probation, along with a 10-year ban on weapons, mandatory antisemitism education and gambling addiction counselling.
In his sentencing decision on July 28th, Justice Edward Prutschi said: “It is important to be clear about what Mr. Akbari is and is not being sentenced for. He is not being sentenced for taking any material steps to act on the threats he made. Mr. Akbari’s guilt is based on empty threats he communicated to a stranger, mistakenly assuming [he] would be sympathetic to Akbari’s own warped and hateful worldview.”
He added: “That is not to say that the threats were harmless. Mr. Akbari’s threats were clearly motivated by bias, prejudice and hate towards Israelis and Jews.”
B’nai Brith Canada said: ” Waisuddin Akbari made these threats to a stranger, expressing his desire to target Jewish places of worship and murder as many Jews as possible. The community impact statements, submitted by B’nai Brith Canada and others, were cited by the judge at sentencing. The Court acknowledged that these threats were not harmless or abstract. They reflected a hateful worldview, targeted both Jewish lives and institutions, and deepened the fear under which Canadian Jews are currently forced to live.
“The Court recognized that synagogues in this country now require locked doors, constant surveillance, and private security. These are daily realities forced upon the Jewish community by threats like Akbari’s. We are proud that our intervention ensured the Court understood the harm that Akbari caused to our community.”
However, Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, senior director of policy for Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center – which also delivered a victim impact statement – expressed disappointment with the sentencing.
“It’s because of Akbari and those like him that Jewish Canadians don’t feel safe, and indeed are not safe, even in the very spaces meant to offer solace and peace”, she said.
“While we appreciate the court’s acknowledgment of the virulently antisemitic nature of this crime, this minimal sentence fails to reflect the severity of the threat made against the Jewish community.”
Noting the “rampant antisemitism in Canada and elsewhere”, she added that it sends “an alarming message that threats to slaughter Jews and bomb synagogues may be met with leniency. That is extremely disappointing and profoundly unsettling for our community.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Toronto Board of Rabbis and the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation also made community impact statements.
Waissudin Akbari has also been banned from going near any Jewish institutions or community events.
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