Canadian Jailed in Mauritania to be Freed Due to Sentence Cut

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The 24-year-old Canadian who was convicted for “terrorist conspiracy” and jailed in Mauritania, a West African nation, is now anticipated to soon be freed as judicial sources reveal that court has reduced his sentence on appeal. Aaron Yoon, from London, Ontario, was taken in custody by the authorities in Mauritanians during December 2011, after he was convicted of attempting to join al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters in northern Mali.

Aaron Yoon was a Catholic who had recently converted to Islam. The court eventually decided to order him two years in prison and fined him 5 million ouguiyas ($18,000) in July 2012. The trial remained aloof of public eyes until earlier this this year. However, later on Sunday, the court in Nouakchott decided to abridge his prison sentence down to one and a half years, which in turn implies that he is now due for release in case he fully pays back the liable fine imposed by the court.

Judicial sources explain that Yoon’s case was an example of how several Westerners left Canada and reached Mauritania in order to join the Islamist fighters in Mali. Yoon informed authorities that he arrived in Mauritania via Morocco to study Arabic and the Koran, since he was attracted by the prestigious reputation of its Koranic schools. Court documents claim that Yoon was recruited by an Islamist, named Mohammed El-Hafed, who brainwashed him by making him listen to jihadi tapes and eventually asking him to join the camps.