By Jasper Ward
(Reuters) – An Ottawa man is facing terrorism-related charges in Canada after being accused of facilitating propaganda videos for the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division to help recruit new members, the Royal Mounted Canadian Police (RCMP) said on Wednesday.
The case involving Patrick Gordon Macdonald, 26, represents the first time in Canadian history that a person advocating a violent far-right ideology has been charged with both terrorism and hate propaganda, RCMP said. Macdonald is facing charges for participating in the activity of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity, and the commission of offense for terrorist group – willful promotion of hatred, it added.
“He allegedly participated in and facilitated the creation, production and distribution of three terrorist propaganda videos. This material was intended to promote the group and recruit members, and encourages the commission of terrorist activities,” RCMP said.
Another person who also was arrested may face charges at a later date, it added.
Atomwaffen Division’s founder and an associate were charged this year in the United States, accused of plotting to attack Baltimore’s power grid. The group works toward “ushering in the collapse of civilization,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
