Terrorism suspect back in jail after family protests bail conditions

Terrorism suspect Mohammad Mahjoub hugged his teary wife goodbye and returned to jail Wednesday after a Toronto-area court was told his release conditions were tearing Mahjoub's already fractured family apart.

Two years after winning a long battle for bail, the terms of release for Mahjoub, an Egyptian, had simply proven too much to bear, his wife and stepson told a Federal Court hearing.

The conditions included extensive surveillance by Canada's border police and virtual house arrest, as well as a condition that left him unable to stay in the house alone with his young children, aged 9 and 11, if his wife left for any period of time.

As a result, Mahjoub's wife and stepson said they were no longer prepared to act as Mahjoub's supervisors and sureties.

"It's a very difficult time," Mahjoub's wife Mona El-Fouli told the court Wednesday

She said officials from the Canada Border Services Agency have copied and distributed the family's mail to intelligence agents, followed them around, and photographed her young children in public.

"They are punishing our children for having their dad back," said El-Fouli, 46.

"I'm torn," she added. "It's hard for me to let go of my husband. It's hard on the children."

Mahjoub's 25-year-old stepson, who asked not to be publicly named to protect his privacy, said family members have had little say about the conditions and their impact.

"Sometimes our interests are ignored or skimmed over," he said. "We are not being heard."

He decried the intrusion on his life and said he feared his friends were being put at risk by associating with him. He also warned that treating people like this risks pushing them over the edge.

'I fear for the safety of Canada.' —Mohammad Mahjoub's stepson, 25

"I fear for the safety of Canada," he said.

Federal Court Justice Simon Noel reluctantly ordered Mahjoub back into custody after hearing from all the parties involved.

"The consequences of going to jail are enormous," the judge said. "We are going back to darkness."

Crown lawyer Don MacIntosh objected to suggestions the border agency had gone too far.

The family's complaints had already been thoroughly aired before another Federal Court judge, he said.

Ties to Egyptian group alleged

The federal government alleges Mahjoub, 48, was a ranking member of an Egyptian terrorist group and has links to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

He is one of five foreigners living under national security certificates, which allow federal authorities to detain suspects deemed to pose a threat to national security without having to lay charges or disclose evidence.

None of the five foreigners has been charged with any crime in Canada and much of the evidence against them is secret. Mahjoub is the first to return to prison, where he was first sent in June 2000, rather than live with the stringent bail conditions attached to his 2007 release pending a review of his case.

Critics have long denounced the security-certificate system, which can lead to deportation of non-citizens on the basis of secret intelligence presented to a Federal Court judge at closed-door hearings.

In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled 9-0 that the certificates, as they were used at the time, violated the Charter of Rights. The court ordered the federal government to rewrite the law to heighten legal protections for suspects.