Mother of ISIS terrorist from Ontario running for school board trustee in Milton

The mother of a convicted ISIS terrorist from Ontario — whose sentence was recently extended by 50 years for another crime — is running to be a Halton District School Board trustee in Milton, just west of Toronto.

Dr. Khdiga Metwally is a candidate for Milton Wards 1 and 2 in the Oct. 26 election. She says she has experience as a life skills teacher, a university department chair, author, speaker and human development instructor, according to her campaign website.

Her priorities include “a high-quality, well-rounded curriculum, strong academic achievement, practical life skills, and safe, inclusive schools free from hate, racism, discrimination and bullying,” it says on the site, adding that “timely mental-health support is also essential” and “personal family experience” has shown her “the value of early understanding, compassionate support, and appropriate intervention.”

However, the site does not mention her son, 28-year-old Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy.

He was convicted in the United States for plotting to carry out 9/11-style attacks in New York City in 2016 on behalf of ISIS. The group is listed as a terrorist entity in Canada and a designated foreign terrorist organization in the U.S. El Bahnasawy was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2018.

This week, he was sentenced to an additional 50 years for attacking two correctional officers in 2020. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said he used a weapon made out of a steel desk in his cell and stabbed one officer in the head and face. He then stabbed another officer in the hand.

Metwally did not immediately respond to National Post’s request for comment.

She spoke publicly about the situation last month.

“I do not ask Milton voters to judge my son’s case through me, or to judge me through my son. I ask them to judge me by my qualifications, my values, my experience, and what I can bring to our public schools,” she told local publication MiltonToday in September.

“Much of what led to his case involved online communications, and I have always maintained that the full context, including his mental health and vulnerability at the time, is important when people discuss what happened.”

According to the DOJ, El Bahnasawy conspired with others online, using encrypted electronic messaging applications. He then travelled to the U.S. to “to conduct bombings and shootings in heavily populated areas of New York City.”

In a 2020 U.S. government report about terrorism in Canada, it said that El Bahnasawy’s parents “have alleged the RCMP knew of their son’s medical conditions and should have sought treatment for him.”

Metwally clarified to MiltonToday that bringing up her son’s mental health is “not about excusing wrongdoing.”

“It is about learning from what happened, protecting my son from his current situation and ensuring that he receives the appropriate and humane mental health care he needs.”

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