Abdul Aziz Kawam was sentenced on Thursday in the Supreme Court of British Columbia for the April 2023 knife attack on a bus in Surrey.

He was convicted of attempting to commit murder for the benefit of, or in association with, a terrorist group, and assault with a weapon for the benefit of, or in association with, a terrorist group on June 30, 2025. 

On April 1, 2023, Kawam approached a man at a bus stop, threatened him and chased him with a knife. That man was able to escape without harm but Kawam boarded a Coast Mountain transit bus and stabbed another person with the knife. 

Kawam was taken off the bus and stated that he pledged allegiance to Abu Al-Hussaini Al-Quraishi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) at the time. 

The court sentenced Kawam to 15 years for attempted murder and 20 months for aggravated assault. The sentences will be served consecutively for a total of 16 years and eight months. 

George Dolhai, the service’s director of public prosecutions, says in the statement that the slashing was a deliberate attack meant to cause “suspicion and fear” in public spaces.

Dolhai adds that while the individual responsible claimed to act on behalf of the Islamic State, the assault was “an attack on all Canadians, including Canadian Muslims.”