TORONTO — A man found guilty of plotting to derail a passenger train between Canada and the U.S. is seeking to appeal his sentence as well as his conviction.
A lawyer appointed to assist Chiheb Esseghaier says she told a court about his desire to broaden his appeal at a hearing Wednesday.
Erin Dann says Esseghaier will ask the Court of Appeal for Ontario to give him more time to file a notice of appeal against his life sentence.
Dann says that since filing his original notice of appeal over his conviction, Esseghaier has been treated for mental health issues and "now understands the severity of the sentence imposed."
Esseghaier and his co-accused, Raed Jaser, were found guilty in 2015 on a total of eight terror-related charges between them.
They were sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole until 2023. Jaser is also appealing his conviction.
Concerns about Esseghaier's mental state were raised during the sentencing phase of his trial.
Two psychiatric assessments found he was likely schizophrenic but Esseghaier disagreed with the findings and one of the psychiatrists who assessed him still found him fit to be sentenced.
Justice Michael Code, who presided over the case, was asked to postpone sentencing until it could be determined if Esseghaier could be treated but the judge refused, saying there was "no causal link" between Esseghaier's mental state during sentencing and his behaviour at the time of the offences.
In appealing his conviction, Esseghaier — a deeply religious Muslim — argues he ought to have been judged by the rules of the Qur'an.
Esseghaier, who refused a lawyer and represented himself at trial, had demanded throughout his legal process to be judged by the holy Islamic book.
During Esseghaier and Jaser's trial, a jury heard that an undercover FBI agent gained the men's trust and surreptitiously recorded their conversations, which made up the bulk of the evidence in the case.
The two were recorded speaking about terror plots they would conduct in retaliation for Canada's military actions in Muslim countries, including the derailment of a Via Rail train travelling between New York and Toronto.
