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Text Message Brands Quebec Man a Terror Suspect

Posted by Soulskill on from the rooting-for-the-habs-will-do-that dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Saad Allami likely never expected that a simple text message of encouragement would have turned his life upside down. But as seen in a similar case of absurd overreaction by authorities, a simple text message is all it takes to have yourself branded as a terrorist. From the article: 'The Quebec man says he was arrested by provincial police while picking up his seven-year-old son at school. A team of police officers stormed into his home, telling his wife she was married to a terrorist. And his work colleagues were detained for hours at the U.S. border because of their connection to him.'"

9 of 451 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What was it? by guabah · · Score: 5, Informative

    He just wanted to "blow away" the competition

  2. Re:What was it? by Squiddie · · Score: 5, Informative

    The article says that he told his colleagues to "blow away" the competition, so most likely it read as, "Blow them away." And it was misinterpreted.

  3. Re:What was it? by Rockoon · · Score: 5, Informative

    A Connecticut Casino has a set of 4 "core values" that its employees are supposed to emulate:

    Blowing Away the Customer
    Developing Passionate and Dedicated Employees
    Continuously Striving for Perfection
    Bottom Line Performance

    Is this out of a terrorist handbook?

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  4. An unfortunate confluence of terms by dgharmon · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Telecommunications sales manager Saad Allami .. sent a text message to colleagues urging them to "blow away" the competition at a trade show in New York City"

    Well there you have it, an obvious prima facie case if there ever were one. An Arab sounding name next to the words 'blow away` and 'New York`. The computers at Fort Meade must have lit up like a Christmas tree ..

    --
    AccountKiller
  5. Re:What was it? by Seq · · Score: 5, Informative

    Allami says he sent the text message in French and used the word ''exploser,'' a term he claims is commonly used in finance to mean grow or succeed.

    --
    -- Seq
  6. Re:What was it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Salem, je serai à New York le 25 janvier, on va exploser ACN, si vous avez des contacts référez-les moi"

    http://www.aufaitmaroc.com/maroc/societe/2012/2/3/canada-un-entrepreneur-dorigine-marocaine-souhaitant-exploser-la-concurrence-ecroue

  7. Re:What was it? by Yvan256 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Salem, je serai à New York le 25 janvier, on va exploser ACN, si vous avez des contacts référez-les moi.

    Translates to:
    Salem, I will be in New York on January 25h, we will explode ACN, if you have contacts refer them to me.

    So yes, if you only see that sentence alone by itself, it will make you want to go and arrest the man.

    The question is, why didn't they dig a bit deeper to get more information such as more details about the supposed bomb and other supposed terrorists *AND* why was his message intercepted in the first place? Welcome to 1984. The real terrorists did win, everyone in North America now lives in a police state.

  8. Re:What was it? by Rytis · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is indeed used very often in colloquial French. You can explode your budget, some limit/quota (overspend or overdo) and yes, you can explode your competition as the title of this article says.

  9. Re:What was it? by CaptainAmerica1941 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Considering this story was about Canada, you must be really paranoid!