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| Great White North |
| Canadian court frees Egyptian terrorist |
| 2009-12-01 |
| A federal court on Monday ordered the release of an Egyptian man convicted of terrorism in his home country and who was later detained in Canada for eight years as a possible national security threat. "The court is satisfied that the threat Mr. (Mohamed) Mahjoub poses to national security or the safety of any person can be neutralized by the imposition of conditions on his release from detention," said the ruling. Mahjoub came to Canada in 1995 and was granted refugee status the following year. He was detained in 2000 under a rarely-used security measure that permits secret court hearings and indefinite jailing of foreigners suspected of terror ties, without charges. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service alleged Mahjoub was a high-ranking member of an Egyptian Islamic terrorist organization, the Vanguards of Conquest -- a radical wing of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad or Al Jihad. He was convicted in Egypt in absentia in 1999 for offenses relating to the Vanguards of Conquest's activities and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. In 2007, Canada's Supreme Court ordered his release after quashing the anti-terrorism measure used to detain him, as unconstitutional. The government amended the act and issued a new security certificate against him days later. Mahjoub was still released two months later on stringent conditions akin to house arrest while fighting his deportation to Egypt, or alternately detention in Canada. But in March 2009, he returned to prison voluntarily as his wife and his stepson, who had agreed to act as sureties and supervisors, "could no longer live with the stringent conditions of his release," said court documents. The new bail conditions provide that Mahjoub will be permitted to live alone but will remain under surveillance. He will also be permitted unsupervised outings while fighting extradition to Egypt and the "reasonableness" of the government's case for holding him under security measures contained in Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 Wonder if he'll try to crash a White House party in the near future? |
| Posted by: Julio Throckmorton 2009-12-01 09:02 |