Father, son facing terrorism charges in alleged Toronto plot to stand trial in 2026
Accused were 'in the advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack' when arrested in 2024: RCMP
A father and son accused of planning an ISIS-inspired mass murder in Toronto have been ordered to stand trial next year.
Lawyers for Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi appeared in Superior Court in Newmarket, Ont., this morning. The court scheduled a six-week jury trial, to begin Sept. 8, 2026.
The RCMP said the accused were "in the advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack" when the men were arrested with an axe and a machete in a Richmond Hill hotel in July 2024.
Ahmed Eldidi and his son Mostafa 27, both face a charge of conspiracy to commit murder, as well as terrorism offences.
Police declined to say which group was the target of the alleged plot, but Jewish advocacy organization B'nai Brith Canada and an Ontario Conservative MP have suggested the plan involved an attack on Jews.
"We were within a hair's breadth — minutes, hours or potentially days away — of a mass casualty event on the Toronto Jewish community," MP Larry Brock said last year at a meeting of the House of Commons public safety and national security committee.
Both accused, who lived in a detached house in the east Toronto district of Scarborough, deny wrongdoing.
Ahmed Eldidi, 63, also faces war crimes charges in connection with an ISIS propaganda video recorded in Iraq. A separate trial on those charges, expected to last roughly five weeks, has been scheduled for Nov. 9, 2026.
A report released this week by Canadian spy agency CSIS confirmed the additional charges stem from allegations the elder Eldidi was seen "dismembering a prisoner" of ISIS in 2015. The RCMP said the case marked the first national security investigation where war crimes charges have been laid in Canada.
Records released by a parliamentary committee show both Eldidis were born in Egypt.
Ahmed Eldidi made an asylum claim in 2018 and was granted citizenship in May 2024. The following month, CSIS said it became aware of a "potential national security threat posed" by the father.
Mostafa Eldidi came to Canada as an asylum seeker in 2020 and was granted refugee status two years later. He does not hold Canadian citizenship.
Uproar over the case prompted then-public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc to order a review of the federal government's immigration screening process in 2024. CSIS said the review is still ongoing.
Lawyers for both Eldidis are scheduled to return to court on June 27 at 9 am. Both accused remain in custody.