The bail hearing for the 47-year-old man charged in connection with threats that forced the evacuation of Concordia University has been postponed until Monday.

The suspect, Hisham Saadi, consented to the delay, knowing the hearing would take about 90 minutes and that there are many witnesses to present. He'll spend the weekend in jail awaiting the hearing.

Crown prosecutor Lucie Martineau said she will object to his bail for matters of public security.

“We object to the release of the accused because we wanted to be sure regarding the security and public safety,” she said.

Saadi, a graduate student at Concordia, was arrested early Thursday morning at his apartment in Cote-des-Neiges.

He remains behind bars on multiple counts including uttering threats, mischief, and inciting fears of a terrorist threat.

> “My client is devastated by the accusation,” said Saadi’s lawyer Caroline Braun.

Classes for thousands of university students were cancelled on Wednesday after a threatening letter was sent to the school.

That letter said multiple explosives would be detonated in a bid to target Muslim students, but a search of three buildings never found any trace of a bomb.

Two friends of Saadi who attended court in Montreal Friday and said they have known him for 30 years and are surprised by the charges. They also said he is a non-practicing Muslim.

Concordia said it will soon start to lighten its security that was beefed up after the event.



