Mohammad Zeki Mahjoub
Encyclopedia
Mohammed Zeki Mahjoub (also Abu Ibrahim, Mahmoud Shaker) is an Egypt
ian-Canadian who was arrested in May 2000 on a security certificate
for his alleged membership in the Vanguards of Conquest
, an al-Jihad precursor.
Although he has not been charged in Canada, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
(CSIS) has stated that they believe he will "engage in or instigate the subversion by force of the government of Egypt" if allowed free. However, CSIS has refused to provide any public evidence to substantiate its claims.
to Saudi Arabia
. Following the pilgrimage, he went to the Sudan in August.
Mahjoub spent five months looking for work as an agricultural engineer specializing in land reclamation
, and believed it was his lack of experience that prevented him from finding a job. Eventually he met an unidentified man at a Sudanese mosque and mentioned that he was looking for work . The man worked for an agricultural firm named Al-Thimar al-Mubaraka, and secured Mahjoub an interview with Osama bin Laden
in Khartoum
. Bin Laden met with Mahjoub for 90–120 minutes, and told him that he'd been interviewing other agricultural engineers, but none that specialised in reclamation. He noted Mahjoub's lack of experience, and told him to take a week to study the needs at the Al-Damazin Farms
, which included 4,000 seasonal workers tending nearly a million acres (4,000 km²), and then decide whether he felt the job was right. Mahjoub met with Mubarak al-Duri
, and agreed to sign on as the project's Deputy General Manager.
On October 17, 1993, al-Duri wrote Mahjoub a reference letter
vouching for his work with the farms in al-Damazin from February 1992 until May 1993. Mahjoub says he left the job following an argument about his comparatively low wages compared to other employees in the firm, and that despite his 10-hour shifts he was often asked to work overtime up to 8 hours a day, and that Bin Laden asked some mutual colleagues to offer Mahjoub back his job with a higher salary several times; but that he has had no contact with any of them since leaving the Sudan in 1995.
as a refugee
using a forged Saudi passport
he bought for C$2500, and admitted he had been arrested several times in Egypt due to his brief association with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood
. For the first three weeks of his stay in Canada, Mahjoub stayed with the in-laws of Ahmed Khadr. Although he initially told CSIS that he didn't know Khadr, he later explained that "everyone knows Khadr", and that his wife was close friends with Khadr's wife.
His refugee status was granted on October 24, 1996. Around this time, he received a number of phone calls from Vancouver, BC
resident Essam Marzouk
. He would later deny having contact with Marzouk, but at the time of his arrest was carrying a paper with the name "Esam" reading "105 10277 135th St. Box 150 Surrey B.C. V3T 4C4", a former address of Marzouk. He subsequently said that he had lied earlier, and his contact with Marzouk had been about some luggage lost on his flight to Canada. In 1998 he was introduced to Essam Marzouk
at the house of Ahmed Khadr's in-laws in Toronto. Marzouk made a number of phone calls to Mahjoub, although Mahjoub denied knowing him in a 1998 interrogation.
He still had Mubarak al-Duri
, his old supervisor at the Sudanese farm project, in his address book with two UAE contact phone numbers - with a note scrawled beneath reading August 12, 1998, for which he could not identify the significance; but insisted that he hadn't been in contact with al-Duri since leaving the Sudan. However, following his arrest, officers found a letter to Mahjoub signed by al-Duri postmarked with that date, speaking about how he'd invested money Mahjoub gave him and requesting any future business ideas, and giving him his postal box address in Dubai and fax, cellular and home telephone numbers; the latter two which were the ones entered in Mahjoub's address book.
In November, Mahmoud Jaballah spoke to a colleague and was informed that a man matching Mahjoub's description had moved to Toronto, whom both had known in Afghanistan. Jaballah said that he was a shrewd and manipulative man who had worked directly under Abdel Hamid, believed to be a reference to Vanguards of Conquest
leader Kamel Agiza, which CSIS maintains would make Mahjoub the second-in-command of the militant organisation. At his arrest, it was discovered that Mahjoub's contact list contained the name Abu Ahmed ("Father of Ahmed") associated with 289-2361, Ahmed Jaballah's phone number.
While in Egypt, likely under torture, Agiza confessed that Mahjoub was a member of al-Jihad. In the 1999 case of the Returnees from Albania
, an Egyptian military court sentenced Mohammed Mahjoub in absentia
to 15 years imprisonment.
Mahjoub was closely monitored by security forces from at least December 1998, when CSIS argues he "exhibited security consciousness" by looking over his shoulder three times while speaking on a payphone. Similarly in May 1999, CSIS argues that Mahjoub acted guilty, looking back several times while boarding a bus at the local shopping mall. In January 2000, he told a colleague that he prefers face-to-face communication because of "the Mukhabarat
". In total, Mahjoub was interviewed by CSIS six times before his arrest, August 8 and October 24, 1997, then on January 13 and January 20, 1998 as part of the immigration screening process, and again about his connections to the Vanguards of Conquest
on October 5, 1998 and March 31, 1999.
On May 17, 2000, Solicitor General
Lawrence MacAulay
signed a security certificate
calling for Mahjoub's detention on the basis of a Security Intelligence Report provided to him. On June 12, Elinor Caplan
, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, provided the necessary second signature. He was arrested either June 12 or July 7. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying a slip of paper with Marzouk's former address, 105 10277 135th St. Box 150 Surrey B.C. V3T 4C, printed on it, and later confessed he had indeed known him.
On October 5 the Federal Court of Canada
upheld that the certificate was reasonable. While in prison, Mahjoub contracted Hepatitis C
.
In January 2005, judge Eleanor Dawson
stated that there was no evidence suggesting Mahjoub was a danger to Canada simply because he had worked on a farm owned by Bin Laden and had met people such as Khadr. She stated the deportation order against Mahjoub was "patently unreasonable" since he would face torture or death if returned to Egypt. That summer, Mahjoub began a hunger strike
, consuming water, juice and occasional broth
, lasting 76 days and losing 110 lb (49.9 kg) before he was hospitalised.
A month after his release, he asked to be placed back in prison, since he felt that the constant surveillance and harassment meant that his entire family now suffered. He was told that since he was not charged with any crime, he could not be placed back in prison.
In December 2008, CSIS revealed that it had been wiretapping phonecalls between Mahjoub and his lawyer, in contravention of solicitor-client privilege
. Jaballah and Mahjoub filed a joint motion alleging that the conditions of their house arrest were unreasonable; stating their tracking-bracelets, wiretapped phones and curfews were acceptable intrusions on their lives, while having their family photographed and physically followed at every opportunity and their mail seized were unreasonable. Judge Anne MacTavish
ruled against this motion.
As of March, 2009, Mahjoub is again incarcerated at Kingston's Immigration Holding Centre. This was done at his own request, as he explained on March 19 to Federal Court Justice Simon Noel
that he could no longer subject his family to the intolerable and humiliating invasions of their privacy that the conditions of his house arrest required.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian-Canadian who was arrested in May 2000 on a security certificate
Security certificate
In Canadian law, a security certificate is a mechanism by which the Government of Canada can detain and deport foreign nationals and all other non-citizens living in Canada...
for his alleged membership in the Vanguards of Conquest
Vanguards of Conquest
Founded as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad operating in Somalia in 1993, the Vanguards of Conquest were a separate faction that eventually folded back into the group under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri....
, an al-Jihad precursor.
Although he has not been charged in Canada, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...
(CSIS) has stated that they believe he will "engage in or instigate the subversion by force of the government of Egypt" if allowed free. However, CSIS has refused to provide any public evidence to substantiate its claims.
Life
Following his graduation from the University of Zagazig in Egypt, Mahjoub says he served in the Egyptian military, but faced persecution and torture from the civil police force due to his "religious beliefs". He stated that he had tried to leave Egypt but was refused by state security; until June 1991 when he applied to leave the country as part of the Hajj pilgrimageHajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. Following the pilgrimage, he went to the Sudan in August.
Mahjoub spent five months looking for work as an agricultural engineer specializing in land reclamation
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
, and believed it was his lack of experience that prevented him from finding a job. Eventually he met an unidentified man at a Sudanese mosque and mentioned that he was looking for work . The man worked for an agricultural firm named Al-Thimar al-Mubaraka, and secured Mahjoub an interview with Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
in Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
. Bin Laden met with Mahjoub for 90–120 minutes, and told him that he'd been interviewing other agricultural engineers, but none that specialised in reclamation. He noted Mahjoub's lack of experience, and told him to take a week to study the needs at the Al-Damazin Farms
Al-Damazin Farms
The Al-Damazin Farms, about 300 miles south-east of Khartoum, Sudan, was an "enormous" farm owned and run by Osama bin Laden.Bin Laden had an arrangement with high officials in the Sudan government to build the farm. He received the land on which the farms were based in payment by the Sudanese...
, which included 4,000 seasonal workers tending nearly a million acres (4,000 km²), and then decide whether he felt the job was right. Mahjoub met with Mubarak al-Duri
Mubarak al-Duri
An Iraqi doctor, Mubarak al-Duri ran an agricultural project owned by Osama bin Laden from 1992–94, and is alleged to have procured weapons and equipment overseas.-Life in the United States:...
, and agreed to sign on as the project's Deputy General Manager.
On October 17, 1993, al-Duri wrote Mahjoub a reference letter
Reference letter
A reference letter or letter of reference is a letter in which the writer makes a general assessment of the qualities, characteristics, and capabilities of a person, or confirms details about that individual’s situation or circumstances...
vouching for his work with the farms in al-Damazin from February 1992 until May 1993. Mahjoub says he left the job following an argument about his comparatively low wages compared to other employees in the firm, and that despite his 10-hour shifts he was often asked to work overtime up to 8 hours a day, and that Bin Laden asked some mutual colleagues to offer Mahjoub back his job with a higher salary several times; but that he has had no contact with any of them since leaving the Sudan in 1995.
In Canada
On December 30, 1995, he entered CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as a refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
using a forged Saudi passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
he bought for C$2500, and admitted he had been arrested several times in Egypt due to his brief association with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
. For the first three weeks of his stay in Canada, Mahjoub stayed with the in-laws of Ahmed Khadr. Although he initially told CSIS that he didn't know Khadr, he later explained that "everyone knows Khadr", and that his wife was close friends with Khadr's wife.
His refugee status was granted on October 24, 1996. Around this time, he received a number of phone calls from Vancouver, BC
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
resident Essam Marzouk
Essam Marzouk
An Egyptian resident of British Columbia, Essam Hafez Mohammed Marzouk arrived in Vancouver, Canada in 1993 as a refugee fleeing persecution in Pakistan...
. He would later deny having contact with Marzouk, but at the time of his arrest was carrying a paper with the name "Esam" reading "105 10277 135th St. Box 150 Surrey B.C. V3T 4C4", a former address of Marzouk. He subsequently said that he had lied earlier, and his contact with Marzouk had been about some luggage lost on his flight to Canada. In 1998 he was introduced to Essam Marzouk
Essam Marzouk
An Egyptian resident of British Columbia, Essam Hafez Mohammed Marzouk arrived in Vancouver, Canada in 1993 as a refugee fleeing persecution in Pakistan...
at the house of Ahmed Khadr's in-laws in Toronto. Marzouk made a number of phone calls to Mahjoub, although Mahjoub denied knowing him in a 1998 interrogation.
He still had Mubarak al-Duri
Mubarak al-Duri
An Iraqi doctor, Mubarak al-Duri ran an agricultural project owned by Osama bin Laden from 1992–94, and is alleged to have procured weapons and equipment overseas.-Life in the United States:...
, his old supervisor at the Sudanese farm project, in his address book with two UAE contact phone numbers - with a note scrawled beneath reading August 12, 1998, for which he could not identify the significance; but insisted that he hadn't been in contact with al-Duri since leaving the Sudan. However, following his arrest, officers found a letter to Mahjoub signed by al-Duri postmarked with that date, speaking about how he'd invested money Mahjoub gave him and requesting any future business ideas, and giving him his postal box address in Dubai and fax, cellular and home telephone numbers; the latter two which were the ones entered in Mahjoub's address book.
In November, Mahmoud Jaballah spoke to a colleague and was informed that a man matching Mahjoub's description had moved to Toronto, whom both had known in Afghanistan. Jaballah said that he was a shrewd and manipulative man who had worked directly under Abdel Hamid, believed to be a reference to Vanguards of Conquest
Vanguards of Conquest
Founded as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad operating in Somalia in 1993, the Vanguards of Conquest were a separate faction that eventually folded back into the group under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri....
leader Kamel Agiza, which CSIS maintains would make Mahjoub the second-in-command of the militant organisation. At his arrest, it was discovered that Mahjoub's contact list contained the name Abu Ahmed ("Father of Ahmed") associated with 289-2361, Ahmed Jaballah's phone number.
While in Egypt, likely under torture, Agiza confessed that Mahjoub was a member of al-Jihad. In the 1999 case of the Returnees from Albania
Returnees from Albania
The case of the Returnees from Albania was a massive criminal trial in an Egyptian military court from February to April 1999. The trial is one of the principal sources of information about Sunni terrorist groups in the 1990s, especially al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and its offshoot Egyptian Islamic...
, an Egyptian military court sentenced Mohammed Mahjoub in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
to 15 years imprisonment.
Mahjoub was closely monitored by security forces from at least December 1998, when CSIS argues he "exhibited security consciousness" by looking over his shoulder three times while speaking on a payphone. Similarly in May 1999, CSIS argues that Mahjoub acted guilty, looking back several times while boarding a bus at the local shopping mall. In January 2000, he told a colleague that he prefers face-to-face communication because of "the Mukhabarat
Mukhabarat
Mukhābarāt is the Arabic term for intelligence, as in intelligence agency. In the West, the term is sometimes used negatively, connotating repression, often by means of secret police or state terror, in Arab countries...
". In total, Mahjoub was interviewed by CSIS six times before his arrest, August 8 and October 24, 1997, then on January 13 and January 20, 1998 as part of the immigration screening process, and again about his connections to the Vanguards of Conquest
Vanguards of Conquest
Founded as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad operating in Somalia in 1993, the Vanguards of Conquest were a separate faction that eventually folded back into the group under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri....
on October 5, 1998 and March 31, 1999.
Arrest
Solicitor General of Canada
The Solicitor General of Canada was a position in the Canadian ministry from 1892 to 2005. The position was based on the Solicitor General in the British system and was originally designated as an officer to assist the Minister of Justice...
Lawrence MacAulay
Lawrence MacAulay
Lawrence A. MacAulay, PC is a Canadian politician.MacAulay is a current member of the Liberal Party of Canada in the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Cardigan, Prince Edward Island since 1988. MacAulay is a former farmer...
signed a security certificate
Security certificate
In Canadian law, a security certificate is a mechanism by which the Government of Canada can detain and deport foreign nationals and all other non-citizens living in Canada...
calling for Mahjoub's detention on the basis of a Security Intelligence Report provided to him. On June 12, Elinor Caplan
Elinor Caplan
Elinor Caplan, PC is a retired politician and businesswoman in Ontario, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1997, and was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2004...
, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, provided the necessary second signature. He was arrested either June 12 or July 7. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying a slip of paper with Marzouk's former address, 105 10277 135th St. Box 150 Surrey B.C. V3T 4C, printed on it, and later confessed he had indeed known him.
On October 5 the Federal Court of Canada
Federal Court of Canada
The Federal Court of Canada was a national court of Canada that heard some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction...
upheld that the certificate was reasonable. While in prison, Mahjoub contracted Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease primarily affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus . The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years...
.
In January 2005, judge Eleanor Dawson
Eleanor Dawson
Eleanor Dawson is a judge currently serving on the Federal Court of Appeals, and is a former judge on the Federal Court of Canada.-References:...
stated that there was no evidence suggesting Mahjoub was a danger to Canada simply because he had worked on a farm owned by Bin Laden and had met people such as Khadr. She stated the deportation order against Mahjoub was "patently unreasonable" since he would face torture or death if returned to Egypt. That summer, Mahjoub began a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
, consuming water, juice and occasional broth
Broth
Broth is a liquid food preparation, typically consisting of either water or an already flavored stock, in which bones, meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered. Broth is used as a basis for other edible liquids such as soup, gravy, or sauce. It can be eaten alone or with garnish...
, lasting 76 days and losing 110 lb (49.9 kg) before he was hospitalised.
Release
On February 15, 2007, the Federal Court ruled that he was to be released, noting in particular his failing health and the lack of risk he presented to Canadian society. Fitted with a tracking bracelet, he was escorted to his Toronto home, now modified to allow court restrictions on his activities, on 12 April.A month after his release, he asked to be placed back in prison, since he felt that the constant surveillance and harassment meant that his entire family now suffered. He was told that since he was not charged with any crime, he could not be placed back in prison.
In December 2008, CSIS revealed that it had been wiretapping phonecalls between Mahjoub and his lawyer, in contravention of solicitor-client privilege
Solicitor-client privilege
In common law jurisdictions, legal professional privilege protects all communications between a professional legal adviser and his or her clients from being disclosed without the permission of the client...
. Jaballah and Mahjoub filed a joint motion alleging that the conditions of their house arrest were unreasonable; stating their tracking-bracelets, wiretapped phones and curfews were acceptable intrusions on their lives, while having their family photographed and physically followed at every opportunity and their mail seized were unreasonable. Judge Anne MacTavish
Anne Mactavish
Anne L. Mactavish, a Canadian Federal Court trial judge, was born in Montreal, Quebec. Her education was at Bishop's University, University of New Brunswick and University of Ottawa. She was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1982. She became an Associate and Partner at Perley-Robertson, Panet,...
ruled against this motion.
As of March, 2009, Mahjoub is again incarcerated at Kingston's Immigration Holding Centre. This was done at his own request, as he explained on March 19 to Federal Court Justice Simon Noel
Simon Noël
Simon Noël is a judge currently serving on the Federal Court of Canada.From 1979-81, he acted as counsel on the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP, and co-chief prosecutor on the Commission reviewing the Somalia Affair.He is a resident of Gatineau, Quebec.-References:...
that he could no longer subject his family to the intolerable and humiliating invasions of their privacy that the conditions of his house arrest required.