Bail bid for man suspected of making bomb threat against U.S. Consulate delayed again

HALIFAX — A bail hearing for a man accused of making a bomb threat against the U.S. Consulate in Halifax was adjourned for a third time Friday as the man’s lawyer pressed for more details about the prosecution’s case.

Halifax resident Ali Assakereh was charged Tuesday with uttering threats and public mischief after police also accused him of placing a propane tank and flammable liquids in his car before parking it near the consulate.

On Friday, his legal aid lawyer, Lonny Queripel, said the ongoing police investigation has complicated his efforts to seek bail for his client, who has been held in custody on minor charges since his arrest on Monday morning. Previous bail hearings were adjourned on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Queripel said the Crown hasn’t been clear about whether other charges are pending.

“We really need to know what we are dealing with before we attempt to present a bail plan to the court,” Queripel said outside the courtroom. “If there’s more charges, the goalposts are moving and it’s difficult to know what a court would consider appropriate bail.”

The 54-year-old suspect was at the provincial courthouse in Halifax on Friday, but he remained in a cell on a lower floor during the brief court hearing. Provincial court Judge Del Atwood granted Queripel’s request for an adjournment until Aug. 19.

Queripel told the judge his client consented to remaining in custody.

Outside the courtroom, however, the lawyer said he might adopt a different approach if his client is kept in custody on minor charges beyond next Wednesday.

“A week or two out, then you can start to say to a judge, ‘Look, they’ve had plenty of time to determine what they’re dealing with,” Queripel said.

Meanwhile, the lawyer said his client was “somewhat frustrated” by the pace of the proceedings, but he said Assakereh seemed to be holding up well.

“In the circumstances, we’ve had good conversations,” the lawyer said, adding that those talks have required the help of an interpreter who speaks Farsi, the language mainly spoken in Iran.

“I’ve had no difficulty talking to him about what we need to accomplish and getting his co-operation …. Clearly, he would rather be home than … where he’s at. But he’s willing to give us the time to deal with the situation appropriately.”

At the Assakereh’s tidy townhouse in the Sherwood Heights neighbourhood on Friday, a woman confirmed she was his wife while speaking through the home’s open front window. Asked if she was aware of the charges facing her husband, she said, “I can’t speak English.”

Down the street, neighbour Dhruv Mashruwala said that police searched the home for about 12 hours on Monday. During that time he spotted Assakereh’s teenage son pacing the neighbourhood as temperatures soared and Environment Canada issued a heat warning.

“He’s like 14-years-old and roaming around in the heat,” Mashruwala said in an interview. “My wife noticed first and told me we need to help this child (because) it’s too hot outside and he may not have water.”

Mashruwala asked police if he could invite the teen into his home to get out of the sun. He said the teen spent about three or four hours there, and the boy’s older teen sister also dropped by to use a phone and a laptop charger.

“His elder sister came by because all of their phones were with the police,” he said. “They had no means to communicate.”

Mashruwala said his children attended school with Assakereh’s children, but he said he doesn’t know the parents. He said Monday was the first day he actually had a conversation with the children.

“We just see the kids because they study with our kids … but (the family) they’ve not made any nuisance here. They’re very quiet.”

He and one other neighbour told The Canadian Press they had both seen police parked near Assakereh’s home in the past. But Mashruwala said he didn’t know what prompted the visits.

Police charged Assakereh with two counts of assault in August 2024, but both charges were dismissed in December 2025.

During the bail hearing on Tuesday, Assakereh was speaking through an Arabic interpreter when he told the judge that he wanted to present evidence of racism that his family has faced. But he said he needed to retrieve some supporting documents.

The interpreter also told the court that Assakereh had alleged that he and his family were being threatened by “police, security people and even the welfare, income assistance (people).”

And as the hearing drew to a close, Assakereh asked if the interpreter could be replaced by someone who spoke Farsi.

Police have confirmed the consulate reported a bomb threat on Sunday at 6:15 p.m., and the suspect was identified shortly afterwards.

The next morning, the discovery of Assakereh’s vehicle at 8:10 a.m. prompted police to call for the immediate evacuation of several downtown buildings, including the waterfront office complex where the consulate in located. Assakereh was arrested in the city’s west end about 25 minutes later.

By 2 p.m., the evacuation orders were lifted after an explosives expert determined the tank and liquids posed no threat to public safety.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2026.

Michael MacDonald and Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press