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July 14, 2006

Canada: Muslim Mole Comes Out Of Hole

We mentioned yesterday that a Muslim "mole" had been used to spy upon the group of 17 Muslims who were arrested on June 2, and who are now facing terrorism charges. The news referenced an article published in the Toronto Star. My colleague, Ruy Diaz, said: "And, when his identity becomes known, will he be treated as a pariah? This will be yet another test of the alleged moderation of Western Muslims."

Well my colleagues' comment has shown itself to be spot-on, and some Muslims are very angry indeed. The Hamilton Spectator and the Khaleej Times report that yesterday, the "mole" at the heart of the issue revealed himself to CBC. He revealed his identity exclusively to Linden McIntyre of CBC's The Fifth Estate.

Mubin Shiekh told CBC News that he had worked for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) and police for more than two years. For a large part of that time, he was with the suspects accused of bomb plots.

The 29-year old of the Masjid-i-Noor (Mosque of Light) in Toronto had been an army cadet and Canadian reservist in the past. He spoke of the suspects as "fruitcakes....with the capacity to do real damage."

He has been offered formal protection as a court witness, as he will be taking the stand to testify against the suspects. However, he has consulted a lawyer, and has declined security.

Shaikh said he was motivated to act as he felt the impact of such a plot could have affected all Canadians, including the Muslim community. He had consulted with senior religious leaders, and also the Koran, before going undercover. He said: "My interests were about Islam and Muslims, even and above Canada."

"God says in the Qur'an that we must value one life. I was guided, I had my licence."

The original Toronto Star article had stated that to reveal the identity of an agent for the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) was an offence under the country's Witness Protection Program Act.

Mubin Shaikh is not the only undercover agent who has been used in the investigation. Last month the Toronto Star revealed that another individual had allegedly took part in the delivery of three tonnes of ammonium nitrate, for the suspects' allegedly planned bomb project. The dangerous fertiliser and bomb component had been swapped by police for a harmless substitute before the hand-over was made.

It is alleged that the group had split into two factions earlier this year. One group, made of suspects from west Toronto, had become led by Zakaria Amara, and the other group had been led by 21-year old Fahim Ahmed, a resident of Scarborough. He had allegedly hired a car for two other suspects who were caught last August importing weaponry from the US into Canada.

Mubin Shaikh has done a service to the Canadian and international community, but the less he says now will be for the better. His own safety is at risk, and also it could be argued in court that public statements he makes now could prejudice the trials of the suspects.

There are already the issues of the legality of "entrapment" or using an agent provocateur, a practice which is becoming increasingly common in international terror cases.

Paul Copeland, a Toronto lawyer representing one of the 17 accused, states: "The issue that could arise is the potential of entrapment. It's not appropriate for police to encourage a crime and then arrest those suspected of committing that crime."

Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP, Mike McDonnell, said that use of police informants was not unique in Canada, and that they had been used successfully in gaining convictions in cases of organised crime. He said: "The techniques aren't new, But the application for terrorism is."

In 2001, Canada brought the police back into the fold of security issues, from which they had been excluded when CSIS had been formed two decades earlier. The cooperation of the RCMP and CSIS in this case is a sign of progress, as the two units had previously argued over their "territories".

Three metric tons of ammonium nitrate had been planned to be used for bomb attacks against public buildings. This was an amount three times larger than that of the same chemical. which had been used by Timothy McVeigh on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma on April 1995. That bombing caused the front of the building to collapse, caused the deaths of 168 individuals and injured at least 800.

An eight-page summary of the charges against the suspects claims that there had been a plan to storm the Ottowa parliament building, and to take hostages, to force Canada to withdraw its 2,300 troops from Afghanistan, according to defense lawyer Gary Batasar.

The plan had been to behead hostages including Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, to force their demands. An additional claim is that they also intended to storm the offices of CBC.

According to the Globe & Mail, Muslims are already angry and are condemning Mubin Shaikh for his actions.

Tarek Fatah, the communications director for the Canadian Muslim Congress said: "This is like the pot calling the kettle black. He was the embodiment of extremism in the city. He was the exponent of sharia law in the city."

"He was supporting some of the most extremist groups in Canada. Now, he's throwing up modern and Canadian values. It brings into question whether he's trying to salvage his own problems with the authorities."

Aly Hindy of the Salahuddin Islamic Centre in Scarborough, which was frequented by some of the accused, says: "The government and the people keep saying that we should not make our young people radical. CSIS is the one radicalizing the youth. I call him CSIS Shaikh."

Hindy claims that before the CBC broadcast, he had heard of Mubin Shaikh's involvement from members of his Muslim community, including parents of some of the suspects.

He claims Mubin Shaikh was "planted" by CSIS to radicalise Muslim youth. He said: "He was someone more knowledgeable about Islam. He has knowledge in Arabic. He has knowledge of the sharia. I saw this. We once had an open house in Mississauga. He talked to the men. He brought a lot of books. He had a lot of knowledge."

"I remember I was standing outside Salahuddin. And he was standing there, playing with a lot of young people. Some of those guys got arrested....This is not an informer. An informer is a good citizen who finds information and tells the law something is about to happen. This is dirty."

Perhaps, as he had such a strong reputation as a "hardline" proponent of sharia, Mubin Shaikh was the ideal person to gain the trust of the suspects.

He is pictured above right, in confrontation with a woman, during last September's protests against the plans to introduce Sharia law into areas of family and divorce law in Ontario, which were subsequently abandoned.

One of his articles, addressed to young people can be found here. In August 2004, he appeared on a program for the BBC, where he said: "What is equality? There are many definitions of it. I think the main issue is that the Western, secular version of equality is not what you will find with Islam."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 14, 2006 7:23 AM

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