Aaron Driver’s body cremated ‘against Islamic burial rules’: mosque

STRATHROY, Ont. — A terrorist sympathizer killed in a police takedown in southwestern Ontario last week has been laid to rest.

The London Muslim Mosque said in a statement that Driver’s family declined its offer of support and chose to have his body cremated, which is against Islamic burial rules.

The 24-year-old’s father, Wayne Driver, told the Toronto Star that his son had a “quiet and sweet” burial at an undisclosed location on Thursday morning.

He told the newspaper that a Christian minister presided at the ceremony, and one of Aaron’s former friends performed a Muslim prayer over his remains.

Driver died during a confrontation with RCMP in Strathroy, Ont., last Wednesday after making a martyrdom video that suggested he was planning to detonate a homemade bomb in an urban centre.

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Driver had been under a court order not to associate with any terrorist organizations or to use a computer or cellphone, but he wasn’t under continuous surveillance despite concern he might participate or contribute to the activity of a terrorist group.

A taxi driver who was in the car when Driver was gunned down by officers has slammed police, saying they needlessly put his life in jeopardy.

Terry Duffield, 47, has told The London Free Press that police didn’t warn him as he waited in the driveway for five minutes for Aaron Driver before the 24-year-old got into the back of his cab.

He says police swarmed them only after he began reversing the car out of the driveway, which is when he says Driver set off an explosive device.

Ontario Provincial Police, who took over the investigation into his death, said Tuesday that Driver died from a gunshot wound, but gave no other details.

Driver moved to Strathroy earlier this year to live with his sister.

Canadian authorities were tipped off about his activities by the FBI and confronted him hours later.

Driver’s father has said his son was a troubled child but appeared to have turned his life around after converting to Islam. But then the father said CSIS contacted him in January 2015 about disturbing posts his son had made on social media.

The Canadian Press