Zakaria Amara is one of 17 people detained on June 2 and 3, 2006, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests. He was convicted for planning to launch terrorist attacks against targets in Southern Ontario and was believed to be one of the ringleaders. A dual Canadian-Jordanian citizen at the time of his arrest, Amara was stripped of his Canadian citizenship on September 26, 2015. However, on June 19, 2017, his Canadian citizenship was automatically restored following the passage of Bill C-6. Life Amara was born in Jordan and baptized as an Orthodox Christian. He moved to Saudi Arabia at the age of four, and converted to Islam at the age of ten. Amara moved to Cyprus, his mother's home country, when he was 10 and stayed there until 1997, when he immigrated to Canada at the age of 13. As a child, Amara attended Meadowvale Secondary School, as well as Milton District High School. He married, moved into a basement apartment with his in-laws on Periwinkle Crescent, and enrolled at Humber College where he was studying Electronics Engineering Technology. Described as "funny" and "sociable", he worked part-time as a Canadian Tire gas station attendant to offset costs of his schooling. Amara was an Honour Roll student in high school and later dropped out of Ryerson University. Terrorist activities Amara is considered one of the ringleaders in the plot and was originally close to Fahim Ahmad. He grew tired with his lack of action and broke away from Ahmed's group. He had looked at websites which led investigators to believe he was trying to find instructions on bomb making. In February 2006, Mubin Shaikh reported to police that Amara had shown him a primitive detonator he had built to be activated by cell phone. This led investigators to "gain access" to Amara's apartment and study the device. He is alleged to have brought Shareef Abdelhaleem into his plot, giving him money. Abdelhaleem then gave C$2,000 to an unidentified police mole in the case as a "downpayment" on 3 tonnes of ammonium nitrate which the mole claimed he would purchase. Arrest The Mississauga apartment of the 20-year-old Amara was surrounded by police, who positioned snipers on the rooftops of nearby houses. Neighbours brought lawn chairs into their yards, made popcorn and enjoyed watching the three-hour spectacle that entailed Amara's arrest to the end. His solicitor, David Kolinsky, has