University suspends Salman Hossain over internet postings that support genocide.
Updates to this story at the bottom.
A York University student is being investigated by the Ontario police hate crimes unit in relation to postings on a website called Filthy Jewish Terrorists, the National Post reported last week. On the website, Salman Hossain appears to have made several remarks supporting the genocide of Jewish people.
According to the Post, Hossain “refers to Jews as ‘diseased and filthy,’ ‘the scum of the earth,’ ‘psychotic’ and ‘mass murderers’ and writes that ‘a genocide should be perpetrated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe.’ ”
Section 318 of the criminal code prohibits the promotion of genocide, and section 319 prohibits the “willful” promotion of hatred against identifiable groups. Hossain, who is being investigated by the Hate Crimes Extremism Investigative Team, first came to the attention of police in October 2007. Back then he was probed by the RCMP for internet writings that supported attacking Canadian soldiers on Canadian soil. No charges were laid in that case. At the time Hossain was a University of Toronto student.
In response to the allegations, York University says it will conduct its own investigation to determine if Hossain is in breach of the university’s code of conduct, which could lead to an immediate suspension while a panel of students and faculty consider his case.
UPDATE: Yesterday, York University officially suspended Salman Hossain. He will have to face a disciplinary panel, and is not allowed on the campus until that time. Spokesman Keith Marnoch told the National Post that the panel has to meet within 60 days, but that it should happen much sooner. He also emphasized safety concerns regarding the case, “We want all of our students, all of our community members, to be safe and knowing that they can be.”