Canada tried, failed to deport VIA Rail terror suspect nine years ago
Stewart Bell | 13/04/25 | Last Updated: 13/04/25 9:10 PM ET
Canadian immigration authorities tried to deport one of the Toronto VIA Rail
terror suspects nine years ago but never did so because, as a stateless
Palestinian, he could not be sent to any other country, documents first
obtained by the National Post show..
The tale of Raed Jaser and his family, as revealed in Thursday's National
Post, makes for fascinating reading. It demonstrates, for one thing, just
how fraught life can be for anyone unfortunate enough to be born into the
cruelly complex mix of religious, ethnic and political tensions that remain
an overwhelming feature of life in much of the Middle East.
As reported in the Post, Raed's father, Mohammed Jaser, was born in Jaffa,
in what is now Israel, to Sunni Muslim Palestinian parents. His mother is a
Palestinian born in Saudi Arabia. As an infant, Mohammed Jaser moved with
his parents to the Gaza Strip, which was then controlled by Egypt. Jaser
told Canadian immigration officials years later that his family was forced
to leave Israel when it was established as a state, and all their land and
belongings were seized.
Raed Jaser was allegedly working illegally under several aliases when he was
arrested in August, 2004, on an outstanding immigration warrant. Officials
wanted to deport him because he had a string of criminal convictions but
were ordered to set him free after two days.
The government's failure to deport Mr. Jaser allegedly proved costly for
Canada: He and co-accused Chiheb Esseghaier, an immigrant from Tunisia, were
charged this week with plotting to derail a passenger train traveling from
New York to Toronto.
Both remain in custody, while the FBI is holding a third man in New York.
The Toronto suspects are charged with conspiracy to interfere with
transportation and conspiracy to commit murder in association with a
terrorist group. The RCMP said the plot was linked to al-Qaeda.
Mr. Jaser's status as a "stateless person," meaning one who is a citizen of
no country, stems from the unusual circumstances of his parents. His mother
was born in Saudi Arabia, while his father was born in what is now Israel.
Both were Palestinians but neither had citizenship in any country. Mr. Jaser
was born in Abu Dhabi but he never acquired United Arab Emirates
citizenship.
"I am not a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, I can't be," he told the
Immigration and Refugee Board in 2004, according to a transcript of the
hearing. "I am a Palestinian by blood, that does not give me any rights
whatsoever in my place of birth."
After living in Germany for two years, where they complained they had been
"terrorized" by anti-immigrant groups, the Jaser family used fake passports
to fly to Toronto in 1993. Their refugee claims were rejected, but since
they were stateless, in 1998 they were allowed to stay under the "deferred
removal" program.
All later became Canadian citizens - except Mr. Jaser. He was ineligible for
the program because after arriving in Canada, he began to commit crimes. He
was convicted of five counts of fraud, and two counts of failure to comply
with recognizance. Court records show he was also convicted of uttering
death threats.
Following his 2004 arrest by immigration officers, the dilemma caused by his
statelessness was discussed at a hearing before the Refugee Board. The
government wanted to detain and deport him but was clearly at a loss, since
it could not find any other country to take him.
"Firstly, Mr. Jaser is a stateless person, he has no citizenship in any
country," his lawyer told the tribunal. "This is where this all arises from,
basically. I believe that Citizenship and Immigration didn't really know
where to deport him to."
Mr. Jaser told the Refugee Board he had never missed a court date and had
dutifully paid his taxes every year. "Obviously, I'm not, according to
Immigration Canada, of course, I am not here on legal terms, which is fine,"
he said.
The Refugee Board released him on a $3,000 deposit. He was later able to
obtain a pardon for at least one of his convictions and last year was
accepted as a permanent resident of Canada. He is not a Canadian citizen.
According to Mohammed Robert Heft, a Toronto Muslim leader, Mr. Jaser's
father approached him several years ago with concerns about his son's
hardening religious convictions. A different, well-known Toronto imam
subsequently approached authorities about Mr. Jaser's alleged extremist
rhetoric.
The charges claim Mr. Jaser, 35, and Mr. Esseghaier, 30, plotted their train
attack between April and September, 2012. The RCMP said the plot was
"al-Qaeda-supported" and that the attackers had received "direction and
guidance" from al-Qaeda in Iran.
The al-Qaeda link is a member of the terror group who fled to Iran from
Afghanistan, according to several sources familiar with the investigation.
He has not yet been identified but following the collapse of the Taliban in
Afghanistan in 2001, many al-Qaeda members fled to Iran, said Ray Boisvert,
a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service counter-terrorism officer.
The Iranian leadership worked out an arrangement in which it would allow
al-Qaeda figures to remain in Iran as long as they did not attack Iran
itself, he said, adding the relationship was managed by the Quds Force, the
terrorist branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
As a result, al-Qaeda leaders such as Yasin Al Suri and Abu Al Masri (linked
to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania) have found
shelter and safe haven in Iran, along with members of their families, he
said.
"Iran continues to also want to influence events in that part of the world,
and clearly al-Qaeda operatives would be useful in those endeavours, so
almost all were held on house arrest but free to communicate," said Mr.
Boisvert, president of the consulting firm I-Sec Integrated Strategies.
National Post
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