A Riveting ISIS Tale, Told in a Moments Podcast, Falls Apart

Now, Mr. Chaudhry’s community declarations have set him in lawful jeopardy. In September, the Canadian authorities billed Mr. Chaudhry with perpetrating a terrorist hoax, a prison charge that could bring up to five a long time in jail if he is convicted.

Tracking the 1000’s of fighters who have traveled from throughout the earth to combat with the Islamic Condition is a sprawling, often murky, undertaking. Just before “Caliphate” aired, two American officers informed The Situations that Mr. Chaudhry experienced, in simple fact, joined ISIS and crossed into Syria. And some of the individuals who know and have endorsed Mr. Chaudhry say they have no doubt that he holds extremist, jihadist views.

But Canadian regulation enforcement officials, who conducted an practically 4-yr investigation into Mr. Chaudhry, say their assessment of his vacation and fiscal data, social media posts, statements to the law enforcement and other intelligence make them assured that he did not enter Syria or be a part of ISIS, much considerably less dedicate the grievous crimes he explained.

American officers interviewed for this report assistance the summary that Mr. Chaudhry, who turns 26 on Saturday, was under no circumstances a terrorist danger. It is challenging to say with absolute certainty that he hardly ever entered Syria, they warn.

But even if he did, they contend, it would have been for a temporary period of time — in which he claimed to have joined ISIS, gained religious and weapons training, long gone on patrols, meted out punishment, carried out executions and participated in top secret discussions about plotting substantial-profile attacks from the West.

“Hoaxes can produce dread inside our communities and produce the illusion there is a likely risk to Canadians, when we have established or else,” Superintendent Christopher deGale, the head of the national safety crew that performed the investigation, explained in a assertion about the circumstance.

The “Caliphate” series lifted concerns about some of Mr. Chaudhry’s assertions and devoted an episode of the podcast to them. Immediately after the Canadians charged Mr. Chaudhry with a hoax, The Instances examined his situation once more, having a clean seem at social media posts, photos, journey records, tutorial transcripts and other opportunity evidence that could get rid of light-weight on his rivalry that he had joined, and killed for, ISIS in Syria.