Othman Hamdan made international headlines when he was wrongfully arrested on terrorism-related charges in the northern town of Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada, on July 10, 2015. From the beginning, the odds were against him as even the arrest warrant “mistakenly” noted charges that did not exist. This was just the first of many missteps his accusers made in their actions against him.
Hamdan had unknowingly been the target of the Canadian government which had created a special INSET—Integrated National Security Enforcement Team—task force that, under the code name PROJECT SCOLLOP, watched him for months previous while gathering information and what they believed was evidence toward his arrest.
At the age of thirty-three, he found himself incarcerated in the BC Correctional system, facing the fight of his life. It was not easy. BC Corrections, law enforcement, and the Crown’s prosecution team did everything in their power to block his defence and ensure his failure. They could not afford to let him win. But win he did as he went through one of Canada’s most unique trials in the BC Supreme Court to prove his innocence and was acquitted of all charges.
Now, as he still fights for his life—this time in the immigration arena—he is telling his side of the story by writing his first novel, to provide the facts about his ordeal and, in turn, expose many injustices that are too easily ignored. This is the story that—because of the modern bias on “terrorism” in the media—had its truths missed by every journalist in the country. This is a story about lack of government accountability, and will open the eyes of every Canadian, and non-Canadian, who reads it.
