A 38-year-old man from Ontario, who faced a unique charge under Canada’s law on state secrets for leaking sensitive information to a foreign group or terrorist organization, has been found not criminally responsible after he uploaded a You Tube video revealing vulnerabilities at nuclear power plants and gave tips on how to cause harm.
James Alexander Mousaly, who was employed by Ontario Power Generation, struggled with bipolar disorder and psychosis when he streamed the concerning content for 22 minutes on January 30, 2024, as ruled by a judge in Oshawa, Ont., on Thursday.
“His delusions included beliefs of being a prophet and a whistleblower regarding workplace safety,” stated Ontario Superior Court Justice Jill Cameron.
The video was taken down within less than a day by family members, and there was no evidence that it reached more than a few viewers, the court heard.
Redacted excerpts from the audio portion of the livestream presented in court show someone angrily criticizing the nuclear sector and offering assistance to “any terrorist or any non-terrorist organization … if you want to destroy any nuclear power station in the world.”
“F–k the whole nuclear industry,” said the individual according to the transcript. “You can’t use this energy source. It is f–king hopeless.”
An expert from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission confirmed that the You Tube video “included at least one vulnerability of a Canadian nuclear power plant” classified as secret, based on an agreed statement of facts shared in court. Ontario Power Generation expressed concerns that details in the video “would allow an adversary to optimize an attack on a nuclear power plant in Canada or abroad,” according to what was agreed upon.
The exact nature of the vulnerability remains unknown since all sensitive or classified information is under seal due to court orders.
Mousaly had been working as a nuclear operator since 2015 at an Ontario Power Generation site but lost his credentials just one month before he went live with his disturbing content, as noted during proceedings. Following his trial’s conclusion on Thursday, some details about Mousaly have been removed from federal government websites.
As per Ontario’s public sector salary disclosure records, Mousaly earned $127,600 in 2023.
Mousaly’s attorney, Thomas Balka, told the court that his client never intended to harm anyone at the nuclear facility but instead sought to “keep people safe by causing governments to shut down this source of power.”
“He recognizes this was not lawful and that his mental health issues fueled this disordered thinking,” Balka stated while emphasizing that Mousaly’s family knows him as a “hardworking, loving, caring partner, son and stepfather.”
The judge ordered him held until space becomes available at a specialized provincial mental-health facility. A mental-health review board will now oversee his case and determine whether he should remain detained there and for how long.
The charge against him is covered under Section 16(1) of Canada’s Security of Information Act-now known as the Foreign Interference and Security of Information Act-which makes it illegal to share “to a foreign entity or to a terrorist group information that the government of Canada or of a province is taking measures to safeguard,” especially if there’s belief or recklessness about whether such information is protected and intends to increase “the capacity of a foreign entity or terrorist group to harm Canadian interests.”
This marks only the third time charges brought under this act have concluded in court.
Previously, senior RCMP intelligence officer Cameron Ortis was convicted in 2023 and received a sentence of 14 years for leaking intelligence data related to police targets; also former navy lieutenant Jeffrey Delisle pleaded guilty back in 2012 for selling top-secret information to Russia which led him receiving a sentence of 20 years imprisonment.
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