Tamil Tiger fundraiser gets 6 months

Thambithurai pleaded guilty to charges under Canada's anti-terrorism legislation in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday. (Jane Wolsak/CBC)  A Toronto-area man who pleaded guilty to raising money for the Tamil Tiger rebels was sentenced to six months in jail on Friday morning in Vancouver. Prapaharan Thambithurai, 46, is the first person convicted under Canada's anti-terrorism legislation for knowingly raising money to benefit a terrorist group. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Powers said Thambithurai would be able to serve the sentence in Ontario.

The Maple, Ont., resident was arrested in New Westminster, B.C., in March 2008 and charged with providing money, property or services to a terrorist group, in this case the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a banned organization under Canadian law. Thaambithurai admitted he travelled to Vancouver, where he once lived, and managed to raise $600 and collect pledges for another $2,000 from local Sri Lankans.

He told them he was raising money for humanitarian purposes, but later admitted to RCMP investigators he knew the Sri Lankan rebel group would inevitably keep as much as half of the money. Thambithurai used materials which promoted the cause of the Tigers to collect donations, and though the amount he collected was small, every dollar counts, the judge said.

Organizations like the Tigers rely on small contributions from lots of people to finance their activities, the judge noted. Sending Thambithurai to jail sends a message not to fanatics bent on terrorist plots, but to smaller players who knowingly and willingly, in their own way, support similar deadly outcomes, said Powers. The Crown had recommended a sentence of two years. Thambithurai's lawyer had asked for a three-year conditional sentence. Thambithurai first arrived in Canada in 1998 as a Sri Lankan refugee and later became a Canadian citizen.