Canada·Audio

What's next for Aaron Yoon now that he’s out of Mauritanian jail?

Aaron Yoon was released from a Mauritania prison on Tuesday after serving 18 months on terrorism-related charges and is expected to eventually be deported to Canada. CBC's The Current asks whether Canadians should see him as a misguide young man or a security threat.

CBC's The Current asks whether Yoon, 24, is a misguided young man or security threat

Aaron Yoon, 24, was convicted of having ties to an al-Qaeda-affiliated group that operates in the North African region and of posing a danger to Mauritanian national security. (Canadian Press)

Aaron Yoon was released from a Mauritania prison on Tuesday after serving 18 months on terrorism-related charges and is expected to eventually be deported to Canada.

The 24-year-old Canadian was convicted of having ties to to an al-Qaeda-affiliated group that operates in the North African region and of posing a danger to Mauritanian national security.

He also travelled with Ali Medlej and Xris Katsiroubas, two other Canadians who were later killed while taking part in a militant attack on a gas plant in Algeria last year. The three attended the same London, Ont., high school.

Yoon has said he doesn't know how Medlej or Katsiroubas became linked with militants and that he was tortured while in prison.

CBC's The Current hosted a panel of experts asking whether Canadians should consider Yoon a young man who lost his way or an extremist with vital security information. Listen to the episode above.