Mississauga News 
Tue Mar 9 2010 
Page: 01 
Section: News 
Byline: The Mississauga News 

A former University of Toronto Mississauga student who shocked fellow students with his controversial Internet comments on terrorism two years ago has now been suspended by York University for similar comments.

Salman Hossain was suspended yesterday after stories appeared in the Toronto press saying he was under investigation by the OPP for offending hate crime provisions in the Criminal Code.

The student has now been ordered to appear before a student disciplinary panel at York.

Police have been tracking Hossain’s postings on terrorism over the past three years.

He was denounced by fellow UTM students and former Mississauga Erindale MP Omar Alghabra in 2008 after he posted comments to an online political forum suggesting that Canadian soldiers training at home for duty in Afghanistan or Iraq are “legitimate targets” for terrorist attacks.

“Our soldiers are professional and dedicated Canadians who volunteer to perform whatever difficult missions we ask of them as a country,” Alghabra said at the time. “This debate is a legitimate debate that deserves a thoughtful exchange of ideas, not irresponsible or crazy rhetoric.”

Walied Khogali, UTM student president at the time, said, “there hasn’t been one student who has supported this guy and his repugnant world view. What he’s saying is ridiculous. It’s an embarrassment to all of UTM.”

The Muslim Student Association at UTM also disassociated itself from Hossain.

The OPP hate crimes and extremism unit is now investigating postings that have targeted Jews.

Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber told The National Post the Jewish community is “breathing a sigh of relief” knowing that Hossain has been suspended.

“York has done the right thing,” Farber told The National Post .

Hossain has posted frequently to the Filthy Jewish Terrorists website. He has called for a “genocide to be perpetrated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe.”

A York University spokesman indicated the suspension tribunal will hear the case against Hossain within two months.