Seyed Amir Hossein Raisolsadat sees terrorism-related peace bond end

A year-long court-ordered peace bond for Seyed Amir Hossein Raisolsadat, a young P.E.I. man previously suspected of planning terrorism-related activities, comes to an end this weekend.

The 21-year-old agreed to the restrictions a year ago after police got a search warrant and seized items from his home.

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Raisolsadat was arrested in March 2015 on grounds police suspected he might commit a terrorism-related offence.

'It's certainly been traumatizing for the family and one has to wonder if it'll ever end, given the powers under [the federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Act].— Brandon Forbes, Raisolsadat's lawyer

He was never charged with any offence and none of the police allegations were ever tested in a court hearing. The allegations were used as basis for making an application for the peace bond.

David Schermbrucker, the federal Crown prosecutor based in Halifax who handled the case, told CBC News the Crown would not be taking further action on the file, so the bond will expire this weekend.

Peace bonds of this nature cannot be extended, he said. If police had ongoing concerns, they would have to make a fresh application for a new peace bond.

No longer subject to judicial order

"The peace bond comes to an end. He's no longer subject to the judicial order that requires him to comply with the relatively minor conditions in this particular case," said Schermbrucker.

"He's no longer under court supervision."

The Crown lawyer said as far as he knew, this was the first time this type of terrorism-related peace bond had been used in Atlantic Canada.

"Hopefully there won't be more, we want the risk to be completely nil," said Schermbrucker.

'Complete compliance'

Raisolsadat's lawyer, Brandon Forbes, told CBC the restrictions on his client's personal freedoms have not been onerous.

Raisolsadat was to "keep the peace and be of good behaviour," to live at home, to get permission before he left the province, and to check in once a week with RCMP.

Forbes said a report from Raisolsadat's probation officer concluded that he had been in "complete compliance" during the duration of the peace bond.

However, Forbes said the past year has not been easy on his client due to the publicity the case has received.

"It's certainly been traumatizing for the family and one has to wonder if it'll ever end, given the powers under IRPA," said Forbes, referring to the federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

"I doubt that they'll end up leaving him alone," he said, adding that the government has "very expansive powers" under the legislation.

'Legislation is there to address potential risk'

"The legislation is there for law enforcement to address a potential risk to public safety," Schermbrucker said.

"An RCMP member deposed that he had reasonable grounds to fear that Mr. Raisolsadat would commit some kind of act of terrorism."

Raisolsadat plans to enter his third year of chemistry at UPEI in the fall, said Forbes.

"He still forges ahead and tries to be as unremarkable as possible."

Items seized from home

According to the application by RCMP for a search warrant filed with the court, police started checking into Raisolsadat in the summer of 2013, and ended up tracking his movements, following him and collecting garbage from outside his home.

The legislation is there for law enforcement to address a potential risk to public safety.— David Schermbrucker, federal Crown prosecutor

In 2014, the police seized a number of items from his home, including 50 to 60 castor beans, computer equipment, files, a drawing of a small rocket, according to court documents.

Police alleged in their application for the peace bond that RCMP "fears on reasonable grounds" that Raisolsadat would commit a terrorism offence.

Police pointed specifically to the castor beans they seized in a cell phone case from Raisolsadat's home. Those were the same beans, said police, needed to produce the deadly toxin, ricin.

A 'tragic misunderstanding'

Forbes describes the situation as a "tragic misunderstanding."

He said Raisolsadat didn't want to do an interview at this time, but it would be up to his client to explain why he had castor beans and other items police found suspicious in his home.

However, Forbes pointed out castor beans do grow on P.E.I. and are not a restricted product.

In a written statement to the media in May 2015, Raisolsadat said, "Special thank you to all the people, especially my friends, family, professors and neighbours, who knew that I did not do anything wrong and supported me throughout this ordeal. Thank you ... Rest assured that I would never harm anyone."

As of Thursday, the government had not yet returned some of Raisolsadat's personal items, said Forbes, including the castor beans, and some papers with what police described as "foreign writing" on them.

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