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Canada Charges Egyptian Teacher for "Militant" Links
TORONTO, Aug 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Egyptian teacher residing in Toronto and suspected of links to the Islamic group, Al Jihad, said Wednesday that he was shocked by allegations leveled against him by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and vowed to dispute them, news agencies reported Wednesday.
Mahmoud Jaballah's lawyer, Rocco Galati, called the arrest a "police state action" and vowed to fight the deportation case to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary, reported the conservative Canadian daily, the
National Post.
Jaballah, 39, was arrested two weeks ago after Elinor Caplan, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and Lawrence MacAulay, Solicitor-General, declared him a threat to national security.
The decision was based on a (CSIS) investigation that allegedly concluded he was a member of Al Jihad and had ties to those implicated in the fatal 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200.
The father of six had been earlier arrested on similar grounds in 1999, but a Federal Court judge let him go after 11 months, saying the government's case was unreasonable and his denials were credible.
CSIS continued to investigate, however, and recently brought new evidence to Ministers, who signed a security certificate calling for his deportation.
"You can imagine he's shocked, he's incredulous," Galati said. "He's already done 11 months of dead time on the first certificate where the Federal Court said it was unreasonable."
The details of the case against Jaballah remain sealed, but a CSIS summary of the evidence reports that, "The information gathered by the service relating to Jaballah leads the service to believe that Jaballah is a member of the Al Jihad and that he has supported and will engage in terrorism."
"He is also wanted by the Egyptian government for his alleged involvement in terrorism," it added.
Galati said this is the first time the government has tried to deport a suspect after having already failed in court. "This is obscene," he said.
"I don't think they liked the first result, which in my view is contemptuous of the Federal Court."
"It is the service's opinion that the Al Jihad was, and continues to be, engaged in terrorism against the government of Egypt, the United States and other Western countries," says a summary of the evidence filed in Federal Court.
In a 21-page document released in Ottawa yesterday, CSIS claims that Jaballah had contacts with Thirwat Salah Shehata, a senior Al Jihad leader last seen in Afghanistan with the group's commander, Ayman Al Zawaheri.
He also allegedly had contacts with several Al Jihad members arrested in Britain in September 1998, including Adil Abd Al Bari, whom the United States has accused of involvement in the African embassy bombings in 1998.
After the bombs were detonated, it was Al Bari who issued the statement claiming responsibility for the attacks on behalf of the Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Places.
CSIS also says Jaballah was in touch with Mohammed Zeki Mahjoub, another Egyptian refugee claimant who was arrested last year in Toronto and accused of belonging to the Vanguards of Conquest, a wing of Al Jihad.
Aside from assisting with the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Al Jihad is allegedly suspected of being involved in the planning and support phases of last year's bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
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