New human-rights chief made academic argument that terror is a rational strategy with high success rates

Canada’s new human-rights chief came under fresh pressure to resign on Friday after it emerged that he had suggested in an academic paper that terror is not only pursued by fundamentalists with warped outlooks, but is a rational strategy with surprisingly high success rates.

Birju Dattani, who this month was appointed by Justice Minister Arif Virani as the Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, was criticized this week for failing to disclose his past activities as a graduate student in London when applying for the post.

Jewish groups and MPs said this week that he should have divulged, among other things, that in 2015 when pursuing graduate studies in Britain under the name Mujahid Dattani, he had shared panels with a former Guantanamo bay detainee about the war on terror, and a member of an Islamic fundamentalist group that favours global Sharia law.

On Friday, Jewish advocates and academics said a snapshot found online of his research into terror and the targeting of civilians under international law rang further alarm bells about his past record.

In 2015, while a teaching assistant at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, Mr. Dattani presented some of his academic work at an event run by the Muslim Research Forum that gave Muslim PhD candidates the chance to showcase their research.

A summary of his proposed presentation, includes an extract of his research into terror as a strategy.

“Contrary to conventional wisdom (which is far more convention than it is wisdom), terror is not an irrational strategy pursued solely by fundamentalists with politically and psychologically warped visions of a new political, religious or ideological order,” it said. “It is in fact, a rational and well-calculated strategy that is pursued with surprisingly high success rates.”

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Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director of policy and advocacy at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human-rights organization, said his argument “raises way too many red flags” and casts further doubt on his suitability as the head of Canada’s human-rights watchdog.

“What an appalling argument for him to make. Terrorism is a human-rights atrocity and an act of political violence against civilians. How can you have a human-rights commissioner who thinks that terrorism is a rational strategy?” she said.

She called on Mr. Dattani to stand down, or for the Justice Minister to make a statement announcing his intention to fire him.

Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who teaches global approaches to legal issues, said “citing terrorism as an effective rational strategy is disqualifying for someone to lead on human rights, whether expressed ten years ago or ten minutes ago.”

“The government must act with a clear commitment to avoid irreparable harm to the Canadian Human Rights Commission,” he said.

The federal Justice Department has launched an independent investigation into Mr. Dattani’s past activities. It will report before he is due to take up his new role at the helm of the commission on Aug. 8.

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On Friday, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said he was pleased that the department was carrying out the investigation he had suggested, saying all communities, including the Jewish community, “need to have confidence in the Chief Commissioner.”

“Based on his alleged failure to disclose material information and his alleged actions, I do not have confidence in Mr. Dattani,” he said.

In order to remove Mr. Dattani from his role, Parliament, currently on its summer break, needs to approve the decision.

Mr. Dattani declined to comment on his research into terrorism and the targeting of civilians under international law, or to say if he had changed his views on the subject.

“Given that there is an independent investigation, I can no longer comment on the misinformed allegations being raised. I am confident that my name will be cleared in this process,” he said.

He told The Globe and Mail previously that while a post graduate student in Britain, he was unaware that he would be sharing a panel in 2015 with Adnan Khan, a member of Hizb ut Tahrir, which is banned in Britain. Mr. Khan’s writings were found among Osama Bin Laden’s papers by American forces in their 2011 raid on his Pakistani compound, according to the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

In 2015, Mr. Dattani also spoke on a panel about the war on terror alongside Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, who worked for an advocacy group raising awareness of prisoners held in the detention camp and elsewhere.

Shimon Koffler Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said he was very concerned by Mr. Dattani’s research.

“Terrorism is never okay. Targeting of civilians under any circumstances is not okay,” he said. “We would be concerned about somebody who advances a proposition that terrorism is anything but an absolutely unacceptable heinous crime.”

He said Mr. Dattani should do “the honourable thing” and step down.