Joshua
Boyle: The Taliban-Admiring Freed Hostage's Case Keeps Getting Stranger
by Scott Newark
Special to IPT News
January 18, 2018
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 The bizarre case of
Joshua Boyle and his family is back in the news in Canada as a result of
two strange recent developments.
Boyle and his American wife Caitlan Coleman made headlines in October
2012 when they were apparently taken hostage by the Haqqani network in a
region of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban. According to Boyle, he and
his seven-month pregnant wife were backpacking when they were kidnapped.
His story shifted several times since then, saying they were mistakenly in
Afghanistan, that they were there as 'pilgrims' to help the local Afghans,
and that they were kidnapped because the terrorists thought his wife's
pregnancy could be leveraged for ransom from the U.S.
Most intriguing is Boyle's apparent continuing support for the
Taliban, a legally designated terrorist entity under Canadian law. Boyle
continues to refer to the Taliban by their preferred title of 'Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan,' and has even gone so far as to explain that the
Taliban refused to cooperate with the Haqqani network in the hostage taking
and that the Haqqani thugs tried to recruit him to join with them. Boyle's
seeming support of the Taliban remains unchallenged.
As strange as this sounds, Boyle has an activist history in Canada that
suggests this may have been his real motivation. Boyle was born into a
well-to-do, devout Christian family, and his father was a Canadian Federal
Tax Court judge.
Boyle first came to public attention in Canada during 2008 protests at Parliament Hill demanding suspected
terrorist Omar Khadr's release from Guantanamo Bay. The Khadr family
organized the protests, including Omar's niqab-wearing sister, Zaynab. She
infamously stated in an interview that the U.S. deserved the 9/11 attacks
and dismissed her brother Omar's killing of a U.S. soldier by snorting "big deal."
"Canada's first family of terror" is supported by
their close connections to al-Qaida (AQ) in Afghanistan and Pakistan and
the fact that Osama bin Laden and current AQ leader Ayman al Zawahiri
actually attended Zaynab Khadr's previous wedding in Afghanistan.
Boyle became the Khadr family's spokesman and, in 2009, he married
Zaynab Khadr. The marriage only lasted 18 months. He reconnected with
Caitlan Coleman after his 2011 divorce. The bizarre trip to Afghanistan and
abduction took place the following year. The couple had three children
while in captivity, claiming that one other died following a forced
miscarriage.
This connection to Zaynab Khadr is revealing because an Alberta judge refused to allow Omar Khadr – now back on the streets
in Canada – unsupervised visits with her because of her continuing Islamist
extremist views and connections.
Meanwhile, new information from Khadr family associates indicates
that, contrary to what Boyle has said, he had actually met Zaynab and her
family in 2006 when he joined them at court appearances in support of the
just arrested Toronto 18 terrorists. Remember that 2006 date.
We now know that the Boyle's rescue occurred in October after U.S. Special
Forces located the family and told the Pakistanis to secure their release
or the U.S. forces would do it themselves. Canada was advised of the
operation once it had commenced. Boyle's oddity started immediately when he
refused to allow his family to board a U.S. plane, apparently because he
feared his Khadr links would send him to Gitmo. After a short delay, the
family took commercial flights and returned to understandably huge media
attention.
Since his return, Boyle has given multiple interviews which can be
summed up in this revealing comment: "In the final analysis, it
is the intentions of our actions, not their consequences, on which we all
shall eventually be judged."
In late December, Canadians learned that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
had met with the Boyle family in his official office at
Boyle's request. Strangely, this fact was not revealed by the PM but rather
through a tweet from Boyle's account that included photos and the comment:
"Incidentally, not our first meeting with @JustinTrudeau, that
was '06 in Toronto over other common interests, haha."
Why would the Canadian PM meet with a supporter of a legally designated
terrorist entity that has killed Canadian soldiers? What does that say to
Canadians, including family members of other Canadian hostages murdered by
Islamists, with whom he has refused to meet? And what is the 'common
interest' from 2006 that Boyle is referencing? Did Trudeau meet with
members of the Khadr family, including Zaynab, during the protests that
year? If so, is another $10.5 million payoff coming for the Boyles?
Less than two weeks later another bombshell dropped. Ottawa Police
announced that they had arrested Joshua Boyle and charged him with 15
criminal offenses committed since he was freed. Charges include eight
counts of assault, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of unlawful
confinement, and single counts of uttering threats, administering a noxious
substance, and obstruction of a peace officer.
The alleged crimes began a day after the family returned to Canada and
lived with his parents, and continued through the end of December, when
Ottawa police responded to a complaint. Reportedly, 14 of the charges
involve an adult woman, while a child also is an alleged victim.
Interestingly, Boyle's wife's parents were in Ottawa visiting with their
daughter and grandchildren when the complaint that led to the charges was
made. Boyle has had four court appearances but has yet to enter a plea as
his lawyers are apparently trying to arrange an acceptable bail release.
He'll be back in court Jan. 26. Is this case going to be
resolved by a plea bargain?
This strange case has understandably attracted significant attention.
Hopefully, elected officials will learn to exercise greater caution in
grabbing photo ops with sketchy people, and our secular court system will
now deal appropriately with Joshua Boyle, including protecting his own
children from harmful influence. One thing is certain: there will be more to
come. Stay tuned.
Scott Newark is a former Alberta Crown Prosecutor who has also served
as Executive Officer of the Canadian Police Association, Vice Chair of the
Ontario Office for Victims of Crime, Director of Operations for
Investigative Project on Terrorism and as a Security Policy Advisor to the
governments of Ontario and Canada. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in
the TRSS Program in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University.
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