Abdul Qayyum Jamal was a 43 yr old Mechanical Engineering Technician. He was also a school bus driver at the time of his arrest.

He is the father of four boys, from his second wife, a Canadian woman named Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, who converted to Islam in 1994. She has since taken the Muslim kunya UmmTayyab bint Ernest al Kanadiyah. His first wife died of Multiple Schlerosis just after the birth of his second child with his second wife.

He was an active member of directors of the ArRahman Islamic Centre in Mississauga where he sometimes led the prayers, taught the halaqa and tafseer to the local Muslim youth, processed the charity to needy families, and cleaned and maintained the mosque, all on a voluntary basis.

He was arrested on June 2, 2006. He is currently held in Maplehurst Correctional Complex, in a segregation unit of the prison. He is held in solitary confinement for 23.5 hours a day in a window-less cell. He is only allowed 20 minutes of exercise in a room with an open ceiling. No pillows are provided in his cell, only a thin mattress with two blankets. He is only allowed to make 10-20 minutes calls per day. Visits are open to immediate family members, for 20 minutes at a time, only twice a week, through a glass partition - far less than most ordinary prisoners receive. They are denied access to their lawyers in private and all conversations are monitored. This is against the charter rights.