Kassem Daher

Kassem Daher , born in Bekaa, Lebanon, is a Lebanese-Canadian accused of membership in a number of Islamic militant groups.

Life At the age of 14, Daher left Lebanon and moved to Columbia - before settling in Leduc, Alberta. In 1990 he purchased the local movie theatre, and four years later purchased the Capitol Theatre in nearby Ponoka.

Mahmoud Jaballah said that he frequently phoned a man he knew as "Mahmoud" who lived in Alberta, alleged by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to have been Daher, to ask about conditions in the province, and exchanging tapes, books and similar publications. Jaballah also visited him in Winnipeg, and phoned him, Jaballah once phoned Hassan Farhat, telling him that Daher would appreciate any religious audiocassettes that they could send him.

Farhat and Daher also spoke to each other, with Farhat once being recorded on a wiretapped call saying he admired the religious scholar Omar Abdel Rahman so much that ""he puts the whole world on one scale and ‘the blind one’ on the other, because he was so precious".

Return to Lebanon Daher returned to his Lebanese hometown in May 1998.

On February 3, 2000, Daher and eight others were arrested in the Bekaa Valley, where he owns a mansion, following a clash with government troops. Accused of being a member of Takfir W' Al Hijra and assembling and equipping the group, Daher was released after two years and put under house arrest.

On November 23, 2005, Daher, Padilla and one other were indicted by American authorities of allegedly fundraising and supplying support for Asbat al-Ansar,