TORONTO – The threat that an Egyptian man with alleged past ties to terrorism poses to Canada’s national security has now “significantly diminished,” the Federal Court said in loosening some of his conditions.
Mohamed Mahjoub will now be able to travel within the Greater Toronto Area, where he lives, without a court-approved supervisor. However, he will still be required to wear a GPS device when he leaves his home.
He will no longer be subject to a curfew, a camera monitoring the entrance to his home has been ordered removed and he won’t have to notify the Canada Border Services Agency when he uses the laundry facilities in his building.
“I am looking forward to enjoying more freedom,” Mahjoub said in a statement released by his supporters.
“Maybe for others it doesn’t seem like much, but to someone who has been denied the right to walk about or travel freely for 12 years it is very precious.”
The government alleges Mahjoub was a leading member of the Vanguards of Conquest, an Al Jihad faction, carried out terrorist activities and maintained contact with “individuals harbouring similar extremist views.”
Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show Canada’s spy agency conceded three years ago that most of its evidence against the father of three, who came to Canada in 1995, was derived from sources linked to torture.
The threat posed by Mahjoub continues to diminish because his lengthy detention has disrupted his ability to “communicate with terrorist contacts” and “engage in threat-related activities,” Federal Court Judge Edmond P. Blanchard wrote in the decision released this week.
“I find there is an objective basis, founded on compelling and credible evidence, that Mr. Mahjoub poses a threat to the security of Canada,” Blanchard wrote.
“While the characterization of the threat posed remains unchanged, I find, based on the evidence heard on this review and Mr. Mahjoub’s current circumstances, that the threat posed by Mr. Mahjoub to the national security of Canada is now significantly diminished.”
Mahjoub was detained in 2000 on a national security certificate, which allows the government to detain him indefinitely without charge as a danger to Canada. He spent seven years in jail before being released on a long list of conditions, including constant surveillance and monitoring.
Mahjoub voluntarily returned to detention in 2009 because of the toll the strict conditions of his release took on his family. He was released eight months later under new conditions.
The government failed to show it’s necessary to maintain all of those conditions on Mahjoub and didn’t prove he poses the same threat 12 years after he was first detained, the judge wrote.
Mahjoub’s supporters cheered the removal of some of the restrictions, but said it should concern Canadians that Mahjoub is not presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“Mr. Mahjoub is essentially in a situation in the security certificate hearings where he has to prove his innocence without having access to the case against himself,” said supporter Mary Foster.
He will continue to assert his innocence and fight the security certificate, she said.
Mahjoub has called on the government to put its evidence on the table and finally charge him, or release him.
Standard bail conditions will remain for Mahjoub, including surrendering his passport and reporting weekly to authorities. But he will now be allowed to travel within Canada with a court-approved supervisor, as long as he gives seven days notice and a proposed itinerary.
He will still not be allowed to own any device capable of Internet access, and his mail and phone calls will continue to be intercepted, though now that won’t include mail from a government agency or utility.
Mahjoub will no longer be required to keep a log book of visitors to his home.
“The CBSA is to conduct physical surveillance of Mr. Mahjoub in the least intrusive manner possible,” Blanchard wrote.
The amended conditions are to take effect on Feb. 21.
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