A hearing to drop the terrorism charges is scheduled for Wednesday

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A judge has yet to hear all of the evidence to determine whether terrorism charges against a Calgary man should be dismissed because of unreasonable delay.

Judge Corina Dario heard a second day of lengthy arguments on Tuesday about whether Jamal Borhot's right to a speedy trial was violated, but ruled that more evidence would be needed at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

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34-year-old Borkhot faces three charges of participating in the activities of a terrorist group. It is believed that he went to Syria more than ten years ago to help ISIS.

According to court documents, Borkhot is accused of traveling to Syria with his cousin Hussein Borkhot after flying from Calgary to Turkey in May 2013.

They were then picked up by others waiting in Syria and taken to training camps to prepare for war.

The cousins ​​eventually split up to continue fighting IS, without each other, RCMP said in documents detailing the allegations against them.

Examining about 5,000 Facebook posts of Jamal Borhot, expert witnesses concluded that by 2014, it was clear that he had fought in Syria, around the city of Aleppo, in support of the Islamic State.

In some exchanges, Borhot said that he was in the country of jihad and that he was having fun. “We're going to play Call of Duty live,” it speculated.

Borkhot said that he came to Syria on foot from the Turkish border, and though he thought it would be difficult, it turned out to be easy.

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Defense attorney Pawel Milczarek wants Judge Corina Dario to administer Borhot's statute of limitations within a reasonable period of time, saying it has been 44 months and eight days since his arrest in September 2020 and that his trial ends on May 31. The Jordanian case exceeds the norm set by the Supreme Court.

But Crown prosecutors Dominic Puglia and Kyra Condro suggested in written statements to the court that the vast majority of that time period was on the defense's end.

In the Jordan case, the Supreme Court found that a delay of more than 30 months is considered an excessive reduction of delay caused by defense or special circumstances.

In his oral statement, Milczarek said the delay was not due to the complexity of the case and Dario said his client's rights had been violated and his charges should not be stayed by the court.

He said the court considered the challenges presented by the Crown in terrorism cases to be “red herrings”.

But Puglia said it's not just a complicated case, so Dario doesn't need to look at the 30-month ceiling as a plea.

Borhot's cousin previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in May 2022 after admitting to being an ISIS fighter.

The accused remains free on bail pending the outcome of the case.

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