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The first possibility was raised by Hersi’s lawyer, Paul Slansky, the character letters he submitted on his client’s behalf and to some degree by Hersi’s testimony in his own defence at trial.

This scenario has him as a peaceable blowhard who had been, as Hersi put it once on the witness stand, talking “out of my ass” when he told an undercover police agent that he was going to join the Al-Shabab terror group and who simply couldn’t have hidden his purported fanatical character from family and friends.

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“Terrorists are the worst kinds of cowards because they deliberately target innocent members of the public who are not prepared for combat,” said Ontario Superior Court Justice Deena Baltman in her sentencing decision Thursday in a landmark terrorism cases.

“The message needs to be sent out that anyone who aspires to become part of such evil must pay a heavy price.”

Mohamed Hersi, a 28-year-old former security guard, was given 10 years in prison for attempting to join a terrorist group and for counselling another to join him.

He is the first Canadian to be convicted for attempting to join an overseas terrorist group and, as such, required a sentence that might deter others, court heard Thursday.

If Hersi were charged today, after Parliament amended the Criminal Code in July 2013, instead of three years ago, he would be facing 15 years, Judge Baltman said.

Calling terrorism “particularly reprehensible,” she ordered that Hersi be ineligible to apply for parole until he has served at least half of his sentence rather than the usual one-third.