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Mahmoud Jaballah	Mahmoud Jaballah	Egyptian Islamic Jihad	Great White North				20010929
	Mahmoud Jaballah	International Islamic Relief Organization	Arabia				20010929
	Mahmoud Jaballah	al-Qaeda	Great White North				20050907

Great White North

Judge relaxes bail rules for Canadian terror suspect

2009-03-24

A federal court has relaxed some bail conditions of Toronto terrorism suspect Mahmoud Jaballah, loosening round-the-clock supervision by allowing him to remain at home alone for up to six hours on weekdays. Justice Eleanor Dawson also extended his curfew and paved the way to letting Jaballah attend his son's wedding this summer. Although it was premature to rule on whether he can attend the ceremony, "as a matter of principle, every effort should be made to permit this," Dawson ruled. That ruling, released Friday, also lets Jaballah's children use a video-gaming system at home, provided certain conditions are met, such as not connecting it to the Internet. The judge also upheld the right of the Canada Border Services Agency to conduct "overt surveillance" on Jaballah while he is out in public with his family. The ruling came days after a judge agreed to send accused terrorist Mohammad Mahjoub back to jail after Mahjoub said he prefers life behind bars to the harassment by investigators his family faced while he was on bail. But Jaballah's lawyer, Barbara Jackman, said the conditions are still too restrictive. She had requested Jaballah be allowed to stay home without a supervising surety round the clock, which would have let his wife work full-time. "(The court) is not going to let him stay at home alone long enough for her to have a full-time job," Jackman said. The agency said that request would increase the risk of Jaballah communicating with unauthorized or prohibited people. Dawson imposed several conditions on Jaballah being left at home alone. He must notify CBSA before his supervisors leave, the home's computer room must remain locked, with a contact switch installed on the door, and he cannot receive visitors or deliveries. Dawson ruled against Jackman's request that Jaballah's son, a university student, be allowed to have a wireless computer in the house. Jaballah is accused by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service of involvement with the Egyptian Al Jihad. He is also allegedly linked to Canadians with suspected terrorism ties. The Egyptian refugee was released under house arrest in May 2007. The Canadian government wants to deport him back to Egypt, but Jaballah says he will face torture there.

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Great White North

Secret files against terror suspects revealed

2008-02-24

The case against a group of Canadians sometimes referred to as "the Secret Trial Five" isn't as secret as it used to be. Ottawa unveiled more specific allegations against the five terrorism suspects yesterday: for example, that one suspect called the satellite phone of al-Qaeda's second-in-command, and that another was in charge of a group of training camp recruits in Afghanistan. In hundreds of pages of court documents yesterday, Canadian ministers signed new security certificates against alleged members of the al-Qaeda network. In doing so, the government narrowly beat a date imposed by the Supreme Court for the previous certificates to expire. A Supreme Court ruling last year forced the federal government to relaunch its security certificate power. The controversial measure is intended to be used to jail and deport Canada's most dangerous non-citizens through court proceedings where the defendants are not allowed to hear all of the evidence against them. The new process will still involve some court hearings the suspects can't attend, but to make the process fairer and more constitutional, the government yesterday appointed 13 "special advocate" lawyers to represent the suspects. Federal Court judges have already ruled that the five suspects are likely threats who, for the most part, lied in court about their travels and associates. One suspect remains jailed while the rest are under strict house arrest. Fears that the suspects would be tortured abroad continue to stymie efforts to deport them. Government officials did not say yesterday why they are now revealing more about the allegations against the men. Among the details the government apparently kept up its sleeve for years: Syrian Hassan Almrei, accused of document forgery, is alleged to have gained access to a restricted area at Toronto's Pearson Airport in September, 1999. "Almrei and the five individuals appeared to have access cards and codes for a restricted access building on the [Pearson] grounds," the documents state. Egyptian Mahmoud Jaballah, long alleged to be a communications conduit for terrorist cells involved in the 1998 African embassy bombings, is said to have "communicated closely" with Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda No. 2. The new documents indicate that conversations Mr. Jaballah had in Canada were recorded, including ones in which he referred to Mr. al-Zawahiri as "the father" and dialled his satellite phone. A Moroccan, Adil Charkaoui, is said to have admitted to CSIS that fellow Montrealer Abderraouf Hannachi - who sent the so-called millennium bomber, Ahmed Ressam, to Afghan training camps - sent him there too. The court documents say that Mr. Charkaoui didn't just attend a terrorist training camp but was also in charge of recruits. An Egyptian who has admitted working for Osama bin Laden in Africa, Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub, was allegedly fingered as a high-level terrorist by another Egyptian security certificate detainee, Mr. Jaballah. "On Nov. 16, 1996, Jaballah disclosed that he and Mahjoub once worked alongside each other 'over there.' And that he [Jaballah] regards Mahjoub as a shrewd and manipulative individual." An alleged Algerian sleeper agent, Mohamed Harkat, is said to have been overheard making ominous remarks. "In February, 1998, Harkat stated that he had to keep a 'low profile' as he needed status in Canada. Further Harkat said that as soon as he received his 'status' he would be 'ready,' which the (Crown) concludes meant that Harkat would be prepared to undertake a jihad in support of Islamic terrorism." The charge sheets make no reference to earlier allegations made by Abu Zubaydah, a Guantanamo Bay detainee, who was recently revealed to have been interrogated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency using harsh methods. Compared with the earlier cases, the charge sheets filed yesterday include more references to Canadian Security Intelligence Service spy methods, including telecommunications intercepts. The government also announced yesterday that a sixth man, who was being held as an alleged Tamil Tiger terrorist, will no longer be subject to a security certificate. "The government of Canada has decided not to reissue a security certificate to [Manickavasagam] Suresh at this point," Mélisa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, said in a statement. She said the government is eyeing other legal measures. Last year, Mr. Charkaoui's name was affixed to a Supreme Court ruling that parts of the old security certificate regime violated the Charter of Rights. The court gave the government one year to fix the law. Yesterday was the last working day before the court deadline. The 13 "special advocates" that the new law created include many veterans of judicial inquiries who've fought government secrecy.

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Great White North

Accused terrorist may have been planning airline attack: CSIS

2008-02-23

A Montreal man accused of terrorist ties displayed secretive and violent behaviour and once discussed commandeering a commercial aircraft for "aggressive ends," Canada's spy service alleges. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service allegations against Morocco-born Adil Charkaoui came late Friday as the federal government renewed its efforts to deport five Muslim men accused of terrorist links. Ottawa filed updated national security certificates against the five - including some pointed fresh accusations - following recent passage of new legislation. The reworked law creates special advocates to defend the interests of suspected terrorists and spies tagged for deportation under the controversial security certificate process. The change is intended to bring the process in line with the Charter of Rights, after the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional last year. Facing removal from Canada are Charkaoui, Mohamed Harkat, Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub and Hassan Almrei, all five of whom have been fighting to remain in the country. The government did not file a new certificate against a sixth man, Manickavasagam Suresh, accused of ties to the Tamil Tigers. It was not immediately clear what would become of his case. Charkaoui, a landed immigrant from Morocco, was arrested in Montreal in May 2003, accused of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent prepared to wage terror attacks against western targets. He denies the allegations. Lies, all lies, as usual, despite all the evidence ... CSIS claims convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam has identified Charkaoui as being present at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. The newly filed documents say that in November 2001, Charkaoui described the war in Afghanistan as a battle against Islam "led by the wicked and the Crusaders." In June 2000, Charkaoui allegedly had a conversation with two others about their apparent desire to take control of a commercial plane for aggressive purposes. The documents say he once applied to work in the air traffic control operations at Air Canada and, later, had an interest in working in the baggage section of Mirabel airport. CSIS suggests the job search, taken in connection with the earlier conversation, may have been part of the "planning of an attack." The documents allege he has shown violent and impulsive behaviour, once beating up a delivery man. CSIS also says that on several occasions Charkaoui stressed the need for secrecy, once cautioning an associate to "speak only in generalities." Security certificates have been issued in 28 cases in Canada since 1991. The secrecy of the process has drawn vocal criticism from lawyers, civil libertarians and human-rights advocates in recent years. Under the new law, the special advocate would serve as a check on the state by being able to challenge the government's claims of secrecy over evidence, as well the relevance and weight of the facts. The five men facing deportation under the refiled certificates will each be granted a new court hearing to determine the validity of the case.

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Great White North

Crown calls for video monitoring of terrorism suspect

2007-10-30

Canadian officials are taking the unprecedented step of asking a judge to install closed-circuit video cameras inside a terrorism suspect's family home, arguing national security necessitates the scrutiny. Crown lawyer Donald MacIntosh said in an interview yesterday he hopes the Federal Court will approve the heightened surveillance, though he knows of no jurisdiction that has tried it. Having raised the proposal orally last week, he said he intends to submit a formal argument before a hearing next month. Lawyers acting for Mahmoud Jaballah, an Egyptian asylum-seeker who already lives under extremely strict house arrest, are resisting added surveillance and fighting for increased liberties. In fact, the Federal Court is currently weighing his proposal that he be let out of his Toronto home to teach school lessons to Muslim children. Canadian officials accuse Mr. Jaballah of playing a "communications relay" role in a major terrorist massacre - al-Qaeda's 1998 African embassy bombings. His potential access to fax machines, computers and telephones inside his family home, where he lives with his wife and five children, deeply worries the government. Mr. Jaballah, who was never charged with a criminal offence, spent nearly all of 1999 to 2007 in jail. Attempts to deport him to Egypt, a country known to torture fundamentalists, failed on humanitarian grounds. Like four other alleged al-Qaeda-affiliated foreigners held under controversial "security certificate" powers, he has recently agreed to live under extraordinary surveillance, in return for being let out of jail. Past measures have included the suspects submitting to being followed by federal agents during their few weekly excursions, having their calls monitored, staying away from computers and having video cameras installed - but outside the home. Never before has any Canadian prisoner on bail been known to have had to countenance cameras inside the household. Mr. Jaballah's main sureties, who are to ensure he lives up to his conditions, are his 22-year-old son, who is a student, and his wife, the acting principal of a Toronto Islamic school. Mr. Jaballah, who co-founded the school, hopes to resume teaching there. His wife said in an interview that Mr. Jaballah would teach math and sciences; his son said his father would teach Arabic. Crown lawyers are fighting the proposal to let Mr. Jaballah teach. "The school, parents, and children would need to be informed that the applicant is a national security risk," writes a government official in court documents. When Madam Justice Carolyn Layden-Stevenson ordered Mr. Jaballah freed last spring, she stated she did so with great reservations concerning Ms. Al-Mashtouli who "previously lied to the court" about her husband's history. The judge expressed higher hopes that the 22-year-old Ahmad Jaballah could watch his dad. Yesterday, he said the government's plan was unnecessary. "There is no reason to install cameras or video-conferencing equipment, it's just ridiculous," he said. "...My mom she wears a veil; being at home, if there's a camera, it restricts her movement." Officials have expressed concern the family has, on certain occasions, failed to lock up a laptop or fax machine that Mr. Jaballah could use. Judge Layden-Stevenson has ruled that there "are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Jaballah was a senior member of [Egyptian al-Jihad] who acted as a communicator among terrorist cells." She said late-1990s records have never been adequately explained: "Although provided with the opportunity to address the 72 calls to Yemen, the 47 calls to Azerbaijan, the 75 calls to London, England [to an alleged al-Qaeda front] ... and the 20 calls to the United Kingdom, Yemen, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan within a two-day time frame, Mr. Jaballah either failed to do so or was evasive."

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Great White North

Canada set to release terror suspect on bail

2007-03-08

A Canadian judge has signaled her intention to free Mahmoud Jaballah, a man Canadian authorities believe helped relay communications between cells responsible for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. "The Federal Court judge (Carolyn Layden-Stevenson) yesterday indicated that she was prepared to release Mr. Jaballah from detention on strict terms and conditions," Jaballah's lawyer Barb Jackman said on Wednesday. Well, as long as they're strict about it... Jaballah was one of five foreign Muslims that Canada arrested between 2000 and 2003, with the intention of deporting them on suspicions of terrorism. Two others have already been freed on bail and a third will soon be released. For those who have been or are being released, the judges have determined that they can neutralize any threat to Canadian security by applying stringent restrictions, such as electronic ankle bracelets and government monitoring of phone calls. The Supreme Court handed down a decision last month that upheld the security certificates under which the men have been held, but said that it was unconstitutional for them to be detained indefinitely without trial on the basis of secret evidence. Independently of the Supreme Court decision, however, Judge Layden-Stevenson had already been preparing the ground for releasing Jaballah. "I think she's certainly conscious of the judicial trend of releasing the men," said Matthew Behrens, an activist with the group Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, who has fought the security certificates. Jaballah, an Egyptian who taught in a Toronto Muslim school, was arrested two weeks before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The government told the courts it believed he had engaged in terrorism in Egypt, including serving as a relay between cells of the Egyptian group Al Jihad, particularly those that engaged in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998. It also said he had been associated with numerous participants of terrorist groups. The Federal Court ruled last October that "a reasonable observer would find grounds to believe that he was, or is, a member of a terrorist group, and of the AJ (Al Jihad)," but that he should not be deported to Egypt lest he be tortured. Jaballah, who denies the accusations against him, is free to leave Canada at any time but he says he was tortured in Egypt before he arrived in Canada in 1996. Lawyers for Jaballah and the government will return to court on March 22 to go over conditions under which he would be released. Jackman said that Layden-Stevenson had signaled her intention now so that initial steps could be taken, such as checking the Jaballah home for electronic monitoring.

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Great White North

Terror suspect in Canada ordered freed

2007-02-16

An Egyptian terror suspect who has been waging a weeks-long hunger strike was ordered released Thursday by a judge who said he posed no threat to national security while his case was under review. Mohammad Mahjoub, 46, has spent nearly seven years in a Canadian prison without any charge against him or access to the evidence against him. He was entering his 84th day of a hunger strike Thursday to protest his treatment. Mahjoub is accused of having belonged to the Vanguards of Conquests, a militant group with ties to the Egyptian organization al-Jihad. Mahjoub acknowledges meeting Osama bin Laden several times while he worked in a Sudanese agricultural plant owned by bin Laden in the 1990s. But he denies any links to terrorism. Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley noted in his ruling that Mahjoub suffers from high blood pressure and hepatitis C. "The applicant today is an ailing and aging man preoccupied with his health and the lack of contact with his family, apart from telephone calls and occasional visits," Mosley said, adding that the conditions of his detention had "exacerbated" his declining physical health. The judge said he was satisfied that Mahjoub would not pose a danger to national security, but emphasized that conditions of the release mounted to "a form of house arrest." Mahjoub must wear an electronic monitoring device, post $27,945 bail and live with his wife in Toronto. Supporters said it would take several weeks before Mahjoub is freed. Mahjoub was ordered deported in 2004, but a judge stayed the order, convinced he might be tortured if forced to return to Egypt. Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms forbids Ottawa from deporting anyone to a country where that person may face torture. But under Canada's "security certificate" program, the government can detain and deport immigrants without filing charges and without providing them or their lawyers with evidence if they are deemed a threat to national security. Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah and Hassan Almrei have been detained under security certificates for several years. Egyptian-born Jaballah and Almrei, a native Syrian, are accused of having ties having ties to bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Two other Muslims detained under certificates have been released on bail.

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Great White North

'I only buy and sell weapons for al-Qaeda'

2006-11-04

Asked by the Mounties if he were part of al-Qaeda, Abdullah Khadr responded, "No, I only buy and sell weapons for al-Qaeda." Over the course of five interviews with the RCMP last year, the 25-year-old terrorism suspect admitted that he "knows everybody" in al-Qaeda and ran guns for the organization to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. But he also insisted that if any terrorist "had anything planned for Canada, I'd be the first one to stop it." But he also insisted that if any terrorist "had anything planned for Canada, I'd be the first one to stop it." The Crown this week released two volumes of interviews Mr. Khadr gave to the RCMP between the time he was detained in Pakistan in 2005 and was released to Canada last year. Days after he landed in Toronto, the U.S. government had him arrested and launched an extradition case against him. Mr. Khadr, a Canadian citizen who grew up in Afghanistan, seems to have been forthcoming during long questioning sessions with police. His lawyers suggest, however, all of the testimony could be tainted by torture he said he suffered in Pakistan. Mr. Khadr's statements give new insights into al-Qaeda and figures who have long been of interest to investigators, primarily himself and his family. "We are one of the most famous families in Afghanistan," he proudly told his interviewers. Abdullah Khadr: The young man told the RCMP how His father enlisted him in an Afghan training camp when he was just 14. He learned how to fire weapons and explode bombs. his father enlisted him in an Afghan training camp when he was just 14. He learned how to fire weapons and explode bombs. Mr. Khadr said he began procuring weapons for al-Qaeda after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. He said he bought guns and missile launchers and had a role in using a global-positioning-system unit to map co-ordinates for fighters who were later arrested for trying to kill Pakistan's Prime Minister in a missile attack. But he said he was an arms supplier, not a fighter. "I never, like, entered a battlefield." His late father, Ahmed Said Khadr: Abdullah Khadr said his father was a proud man who founded Canadian Muslim student unions, went to Afghanistan to help orphans and became a long-time intimate of Osama bin Laden. Following the 2001 U.S. invasion, the al-Qaeda leadership put the family patriarch in charge of a group of Arab resistance fighters in Logar region of Afghanistan. Following the 2001 U.S. invasion, the al-Qaeda leadership put the family patriarch in charge of a group of Arab resistance fighters in Logar region of Afghanistan, Abdullah Khadr said. The Pakistani army killed Ahmed Said Khadr in 2003. "My father knows everybody in the [al-Qaeda] Top 10," he said at one point. But he insisted no funds from his father's charity work ever made their way to al-Qaeda. Abdullah said his brother was never supposed to have been a fighter. He just disappeared one day after his father sent him toward the front lines. His younger brother Omar: The teenager has been held in Guantanamo Bay since U.S. forces shot him in a 2002 battle in Afghanistan, during which Omar lobbed a grenade that killed a soldier. Abdullah said his brother was never supposed to have been a fighter. He just disappeared one day after his father sent him toward the front lines. "My father said Omar is translating." His sister Zaynab: The Mounties have suggested they recovered al-Qaeda propaganda videos from her computer hard drive, but Abdullah insisted his sister is no terrorist. She's "patriotic," he said. "But I doubt she can do anything other than talk." Osama bin Laden: The al-Qaeda leader told the Khadr family to "be happy, something is coming" prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Abdullah said. Amer El-Maati: This Canadian citizen, sought by the FBI as a terrorist, worked as a carpet salesmen after al-Qaeda refused to give him a pension, according to Abdullah. He said he last saw the man fighting in Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions in 2001. "But he can't do much due to a brain injury," Abdullah Khadr said. "He was in a car accident in 1992. He cannot walk for long hours." Amer El-Maati's brother, Ahmed, a truck driver jailed in the Middle East after being followed by the RCMP, is suing Ottawa for being complicit in his overseas torture. The Hindy family: The RCMP questioned Abdullah Khadr about Aly Hindy, a controversial Toronto imam and long-time Khadr family friend. Abdullah Khadr recalled a late-1990s visit that the imam's son Ibrahim made to Afghanistan. "He came, he stayed one month in the Musab al-Surri camp, maybe one week less than a month." He said the teenager learned about weapons, including firing Kalshnikovs. Mahmoud Jaballah: Abdullah Khadr said he knew him as "Abu Ahmed," and as an "Arabic tutor in Peshawar for one week. But to my knowledge he never fought on the front line."

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Great White North

African bombings evidence doubtful against Jaballah: lawyer

2006-09-15

If Mahmoud Jaballah was really involved with the terrorists who bombed two American embassies in East Africa, killing hundreds, he would long ago have been brought to justice in the United States, his lawyer argued Wednesday. The fact the Toronto father of six has never been charged in the U.S. or anywhere else with a terror-related offence should raise serious doubts about the weight of the secret evidence that has kept him detained on a national security certificate for five years. Making his final arguments in the long and complicated case in Federal Court in Toronto, John Norris urged the judge to reject the classified intelligence compiled against his client. ''Had Mr. Jaballah played any role whatsoever in those events in August of 1998, he would have been charged and he would have been extradited to the United States long before now,'' said Norris. ''Absent any charges, absent those proceedings, there must be serious doubts about the credibility and the reliability of the secret evidence said to implicate him in those events.'' But lawyers for the federal government, which is trying to deport Jaballah for a second time on the grounds that he is a danger to national security, said the fact the Egyptian national has not been indicted is meaningless. ''Mr. Jaballah should take no comfort from a silent record and you should pay it no heed,'' Donald MacIntosh, an attorney for the Justice Department, said.

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Great White North

Jaballah sez he only met with Khadr for tea

2006-05-20

An Egyptian who has twice been jailed under Canada's controversial security-certificate process, repeated in Federal Court yesterday that he is not a terrorist and that his only conversation with a senior al-Qaeda operative was over a cup of tea. Mahmoud Jaballah, a biology teacher and father of six, is undergoing another hearing on the reasonableness of a security certificate -- signed by two federal government ministers -- that has resulted in his imprisonment since August, 2001. Mr. Jaballah was first arrested in the mid-1990s, but later released when a Federal Court judge quashed the certificate. Yesterday, he acknowledged that he had met an associate of Osama bin Laden, Ahmed Said Khadr who was killed in Afghanistan by Pakistani forces in 2001, but said it was an innocent meeting. Mr. Jaballah said that Mr. Khadr's in-laws helped his wife buy groceries when Mr. Jaballah and his family first came to Toronto as refugees and that he and Mr. Khadr drank tea together. He also testified that he had seen Mr. Khadr at his mosque. Mr. Jaballah's lawyer, John Norris, also probed his client about an Interpol alert that suggested he was part of a terrorist organization called Egyptian Al-Jihad. "The Egyptian government tends to exaggerate things . . . ," he said. Mr. Jaballah testified that Egyptian authorities had once arrested -- and later released him -- on inaccurate evidence that he was plotting to kill the country's minister of the interior. He also denied allegations from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that he fought and trained in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Yemen. He said that in the early 1990s he travelled to Pakistan to work as a school teacher.

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Great White North

Jaballah denies receiving terrorist training

2006-05-19

An Egyptian terror suspect testifying in Federal Court on Thursday refuted claims by Canada’s spy agency that he trained and fought as a terrorist. A CSIS summary of evidence says Mahmoud Jaballah’s alleged travel pattern in the early 1990s was consistent with those of an Islamic mujahedeen extremist, and accuses him of fighting alongside terrorists in Afghanistan and Chechnya. However, Jaballah denied having ever been to either country, and testified he was working as a teacher in Pakistan during the time in question. He also disputed CSIS claims that he had trained as a terrorist in Yemen, saying he was in the country to apply for a teaching job. CSIS also says Jaballah had an operational relationship with Egyptian-born Canadian Ahmed Said Khadr, a suspected Al Qaeda operative killed by Pakistani forces in 2003, before Jaballah moved to Canada. The spy agency claims Jaballah spent time at Khadr’s Pakistani residence while in the country on business. Jaballah admitted he had met Khadr in Canada, but denied CSIS’s claims about their relationship. He said he would shake hands with Khadr and say hello when the two crossed paths in a Toronto mosque, but insisted they were not friends. “I never stayed with him, I never discussed anything with him,” Jaballah said. “He was like anyone else in the mosque.” Jaballah has been detained since August 2001 on a national security certificate, which allows Ottawa to indefinitely hold foreign nationals who are determined to be security threats. CSIS has provided only summaries of evidence to the defence, and will not identify specific sources. But Jaballah said on the stand he is “100 per cent” certain the accusations and alleged travel itineraries came from the Egyptian government. Egyptian authorities have accused Jaballah of being a high-ranking member of an Egyptian-based terror group, al-Jihad, which is said to provide terrorists with logistics, weapons and escape plans. In court Thursday, Jaballah denied any involvement with terrorist organizations. “I applied for refugee status because of the persecution I experienced in Egypt,” he said. “That’s the main reason I wanted to live like any other human being in Canada.” Jaballah was testifying after a judge agreed earlier Thursday to place limits on the future use of his testimony. His lawyers had asked Judge Andrew MacKay to grant Jaballah protection against his testimony being used against him should he face another security certificate charge. MacKay’s order would limit the use or derivative use of Jaballah’s testimony to this current case and any proceedings arising directly from it, such as a claim for appeal or charges of perjury or contempt. “Though there is no statutory compulsion to testify, the circumstances compel him to testify if he is to have any chance of remaining in Canada,” MacKay said. The defence has also argued that greater disclosure of the evidence is necessary for Jaballah to properly argue his case. “How can you answer a case when you’ve not been given a case?” said defence lawyer Barbara Jackman, who likened the process behind the security certificate hearings to “walking in the dark.” MacKay reminded the defence of the court’s obligation to not release information that could be damaging to national security, but said he will meet with government lawyers in Ottawa next week to see if more evidence against Jaballah can be made public.

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Great White North

State Department charges terrorist plotters still active in Canada

2006-04-30

The Bush administration on Friday said Canada has become a "safe haven" for Islamic terrorists who exploit lax immigration laws and weak counterterrorism enforcement to raise money and plan attacks. In its annual Country Report on Terrorism, the State Department expressed growing concern about the presence of "numerous" terror plotters in the country, and said political fallout from the Maher Arar case continues to hamper information-sharing between Canadian and U.S. intelligence agencies. "Terrorists have capitalized on liberal Canadian immigration and asylum policies to enjoy safe haven, raise funds, arrange logistical support and plan terrorist attacks," the State Department said. The U.S. noted "only one person" has been arrested under anti-terrorism legislation passed in Canada after terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. A spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Canadian officials were still reviewing the U.S. report and would not comment on its specifics. "What I can tell you is that Canada's new government believes in maintaining a vigorous counter-intelligence program to safeguard our nation's security," said Day's communications director Melisa Leclerc. "This government does not tolerate inappropriate activities and will restore our reputation as a leader and dependable partner in defending freedom and democracy in the world." The State Department's harsh language on Canada contrasted with its statements in the report of Iraq, which it said was "not currently a terrorist safe haven" despite the continued attacks carried out by al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi and other groups in the country. While praising Canada for playing "an important counterterrorism leadership role worldwide" -- specifically through its military presence in Afghanistan -- the State Department said the Arar case had cast a chill over relations between the countries' intelligence agencies. Arar, an Ottawa engineer and Canadian citizen, was detained by U.S. authorities in September 2002 during a stopover in New York on a flight from Tunisia to Canada. Suspected of terrorism ties, he was sent to Syria under a policy called "extraordinary rendition." A federal inquiry into Arar's detention found he had been tortured while in Syrian custody. The U.S. says the RCMP gave them information suggesting Arar was a security risk. The ensuing controversy led to restrictions on intelligence sharing that still hamper the "free flow" of information about terror suspects, the U.S. said. "The principal threat to the close U.S.-Canadian co-operative relationship remains the fallout from the Arar case," the report states. "The Arar case underscores a greater concern for the United States: the presence in Canada of numerous suspected terrorists and terror supporters." Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation accused two Muslim youths from Georgia of traveling to Toronto in 2005 to plot attacks against American military bases and oil refineries. The arrests were part of an ongoing FBI investigation into Islamic terror cells in Canada, the agency said. The State Department cited the presence of five other terror suspects -- Mohamed Harkat, Mohamed Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah and Hassan Almrei and Adil Charkaoui -- as further evidence of an ongoing Canadian problem with Islamic extremists. Harkat, Mahjoub, Jaballah and Almrei are being held on security certificates in the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre, dubbed "Guantanamo North" by human-rights activists. Charkaoui is free on bail. Harkat, Charkaoui and Almrei -- who allegedly have ties to al-Qaeda -- are challenging the government's use of the security certificates to indefinitely hold terror suspects. The Bush administration report called Iran the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism, saying the country's Ministry of Intelligence and Security has had direct involvement in the planning and support of terrorist attacks. While the U.S. said it has had substantial success disrupting the financing and leadership network of al-Qaeda, the group remains the country's single greatest threat, the report said. "Our collective international efforts have harmed al-Qaeda. Its core leadership no longer has effective global command and control of its networks," said State Department special co-ordinator for counterterrorism Henry Crumpton. But remaining at-large and through occasional public statements, al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri "symbolize resistance to the international community, demonstrate they retain the capability to influence events and inspire actual and potential terrorists," Crumpton said.

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Great White North

Terrorists caught entering Canda from U. S.

2005-11-04

EFL TORONTO - Canadian counter- terrorism investigators have dismantled a suspected terrorist cell in Toronto whose members included an al-Qaeda-trained explosives expert, the National Post has learned. The cell consisted of four Algerian refugee claimants who had lived in Canada for as long as six years and were alleged members of a radical Islamic terror faction called the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. The central figure of the Toronto-area cell was a former al-Qaeda training camp instructor who studied bomb-making at Osama bin Laden's Al Farooq and Khaldun training camps in eastern Afghanistan. The group was watched by intelligence officers before being broken apart in an inter-agency operation involving the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada Border Services Agency and police. A senior CSIS counterterrorism official, Larry Brooks, announced the dismantling of the cell at a closed-door national security workshop held this week at a hotel north of Toronto. Mr. Brooks told workshop delegates that three members of the group were deported this summer and the key figure left Canada voluntarily in March, 2004, after he was confronted by investigators. The ringleader of the Toronto cell was an Algerian-born member of the GSPC who entered Canada on Aug. 8, 1998, using a forged Saudi passport and made a refugee claim that was ultimately turned down. Initially, CSIS began preparing a national security certificate that was to be used to deport him, but instead authorities subjected him to "confrontation interviews," a counterterrorism tactic that is sometimes used to make suspected terrorists know they are being closely watched. The explosives expert left on his own shortly afterward on March 7, 2004, and the three others were later arrested and deported to U.S. border crossings because they had entered Canada from the United States. The operation is the latest indication that trained terrorists, some of whom are versed in bomb-making methods and have links to bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, have been living in Canada. "We know that terrorists are in our own backyard," Inspector Jamie Jagoe, the officer in charge of the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team for Ontario, which co-hosted the workshop, told delegates. During his presentation, Insp. Jagoe showed slides of several suspected terrorists who had lived in Canada, including Amer El-Maati, Abderraouf Jdey, Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohamed Mahjoub, Ressam, Mohammed Jabarah, Abdul Rahman Jabarah and Ahmed Said Khadr.

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