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Calgary man who admitted to participating in terrorism activity sentenced to 12 years

Judge imposed lifetime firearms ban and ordered Borhot’s DNA be submitted to a national database
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Hussein Borhot is seen in a courtroom sketch in Calgary on Thursday, April 28, 2022. Borhot, who pleaded guilty to terrorism-related acts with the militant group Islamic State, is to be sentenced today. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mary Haasdyk

A man who admitted to terrorism-related acts with the militant group Islamic State has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Hussein Borhot, who is 36, appeared before Court of Queen’s Bench Justice David Labrenz for a sentencing hearing in a Calgary courtroom this morning.

Borhot pleaded guilty last month to one count of participating in terrorism group activity between May 9, 2013, and June 7, 2014, as well as to kidnapping for a terrorist group while in Syria.

Labrenz accepted a joint submission from Crown and defence lawyers, who recommended eight years on the first count and another four years for the kidnapping.

The judge also imposed a lifetime firearms ban and ordered Borhot’s DNA be submitted to a national database.

RCMP arrested Borhot in July 2020 after a seven-year investigation.

An agreed statement of facts read in court last month said he travelled to Syria through Turkey to join the Islamic State.

The statement said he signed up as a fighter, received substantial training and excelled as a sniper, but did not tell his wife or father before the trip.

Court heard that Borhot revealed much of the information to an undercover officer after he returned to Canada.

—The Canadian Press

RELATED: ‘I didn’t know better’: Calgary man admits to terrorism activity with Islamic State