# Terrorist returns to Canada



## big bad john (26 Feb 2005)

Terrorist returns: Tory urges Ottawa to consider revoking citizenship
  
Stewart Bell 
National Post 


Saturday, February 26, 2005



TORONTO - One of Canada's most notorious terrorist leaders has returned home to Montreal after serving four years in a French prison for his role in an international jihadist network.

Fateh Kamel, a 44-year-old Algerian-Canadian who headed a Montreal-based extremist cell, arrived in Montreal on Jan. 29 aboard an Air France flight, sources told the National Post.

A charismatic shopkeeper who led a double life as the international terrorist operative "Moustapha," Kamel was dubbed the "Islamist Carlos" because of his remarkable exploits around the world.

"I am GIA," he once said in a conversation intercepted by Italian counter-terrorism investigators. GIA is the French acronym for the Algerian Armed Islamic Group. "Killing is easy for me."

The best-known member of the so-called Groupe Fateh Kamel was Ahmed Ressam, the failed refugee claimant from Montreal who tried to blow up Los Angeles International Airport at the dawn of the millennium.

Captured in Jordan in 1999, Kamel was tried in Paris in 2001 and convicted for his involvement with terrorist groups. Although sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, he was released early for good behaviour. He has a Canadian wife and son.

Peter MacKay, the Conservative Party's deputy leader and public safety critic, urged the government to consider revoking Kamel's Canadian citizenship. Canada has used such tactics against Nazi war criminals.

"By all means we should be examining revocation, and certainly there is cause for the Canadian government, for our officials, to examine whether he was truthful at the time of his entry into this country," Mr. MacKay said.

"I have a real problem with us just saying we'll let bygones be bygones. I don't think most Canadians have much comfort level knowing that this convicted terrorist is now back in our country."

Kamel's return comes as another suspected al-Qaeda operative from Montreal, Moroccan Adil Charkaoui, was freed by a Federal Court judge who ruled he was no longer a threat to Canadian security. He is still facing the prospect of deportation.

The cases are posing challenges for Canadian officials trying to strike a balance between the rights of one-time terrorists and the imperative to protect national security in the era of global terrorism.

"Someone who's an ideologue is usually very unlikely to give it up. They're going to believe that way for the rest of their lives," said John Thompson, executive director of the Mackenzie Institute security think tank.

"On the other hand, with the IRA and some other groups, terrorists who've come out of prison are likely to try and live quietly. They can't get back into the clandestine life. ... He's somebody whose going to be watched and he knows it."

Born in El Harrach, Algeria, Kamel moved to Canada in the 1980s and married a Quebec schoolteacher. He fought in the war in Afghanistan and later went to Bosnia, where the next international jihad was underway. He was injured there.

In Montreal, he was the boss of an Islamic extremist cell composed of Algerians and Moroccans. The group was a branch of the Algerian GIA, but also developed close links to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

"Kamel was a key member of the international Islamist terrorist network of the mujahedeen, or holy warriors ... determined to strike the Western world order that they considered corrupt and immoral," according to a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) document.

"As well, he played a central role in the wave of terrorist attacks that erupted in France towards the middle of the 1990s, notably the plot to commit bomb attacks in Paris metro stations and a series of attacks in the city of Roubaix, in northern France."

He travelled extensively throughout Europe and worked closely with his right-hand man, Karim Said Atmani, a Moroccan who trained in Afghanistan and fought in Bosnia before coming to Canada hidden in a Liberian cargo ship. An expert documents forger, Atmani ran a ring that committed low-level crimes such as cellular phone thefts to raise money for their militant activities. He was arrested in Niagara Falls in 1998 and sent to prison in France.

Kamel denied all at his trial, despite photographic and wiretap evidence, telling the judge, "What have I done? ... I was not arrested with weapons. Not once! Not once did I have false papers, not once had a weapon."

France convicted him of "participating in a criminal association for the purposes of preparing acts of terrorism" and supplying fraudulent passports to militants.

After Kamel's arrest, Ressam emerged as the group's new leader. He and his associates discussed bombing a Jewish neighbourhood in Montreal and threatened to attack the Montreal metro system with biological and chemical weapons.

Another of Ressam's associates, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who gave the call to prayer at a Montreal mosque, is alleged by U.S. investigators to have recruited several of the 9/11 hijackers in Germany.

Although the Kamel group was broken up through a series of arrests and deportations, CSIS director Jim Judd testified this week that similar extremists continue to operate in Canada.

"There are several graduates of terrorist training camps, many of whom are battle-hardened veterans of campaigns in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and elsewhere, who reside here, and still others who continue to seek access to our country," he told MPs.

"Often, these individuals remain in contact with one another in Canada, and show signs of ongoing clandestine-type activities employing sophisticated counter-surveillance techniques, secret communications, and secretive meeting arrangements."

© National Post 2005


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## Slim (26 Feb 2005)

The only question in my mind is why is this guy not grabbed, put on a plane and told never to come back!?


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## ArmyRick (26 Feb 2005)

Slim, I agree 100%


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## Blue Max (26 Feb 2005)

Political Correctness run amok, Canadian style. :rage:

B M.


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## mo-litia (26 Feb 2005)

Speaking of political correctness, our government will likely NEVER revoke the citizenship of an Islamic terrorist; they belong to a minority group. Our idiotic Liberals would sooner have Parliament Hill attacked by the Islamic Jihad rather than appear racist.

However, Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel-who I do not support-is being deported in the next couple of weeks to his native Germany after being held under Canada's anti-terrorism legislation for the past two years.

While most logical people will find his views disturbing, he is a 65 year old man whose only 'crime' is maintaining a website that denies that the Holocaust occurred. I have placed quotations around the word 'crime' as I feel that Canada's laws against promoting hatred-while noble in intent-are wrong, as they contravene a far more important principle; that of FREE SPEECH.

And yet, our government is deporting a deluded senior citizen who maintained a foolish website as a terrorist while they allow this dirtbag, who belonged to a group that tried to blow up Los Angeles International Airport, to return - wtf is wrong with this picture?!?!?

I suppose the message is clear: our Liberals will let anyone come to Canada and become involved in terrorism with impunity-as long as they are a minority. But God help the foolish white immigrant who clings to an outdated and wrong idealogy because they will find themselves on the next plane out of Canada for expressing their views over the Internet ... just as everybody on this forum is doing every time they post.

Does anybody else wonder why this blatant double standard that political correctness has created in modern society has been said to cause more racism than it prevents?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050226/ZUNDEL26/TPNational/Canada


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## S McKee (27 Feb 2005)

Hey this is Canada we welcome Islamic terrorists, organised crime, any scumbag as long as your a visible minority. WTF is wrong with the people running this country?


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## noreaga808 (27 Feb 2005)

This Canadian PC bull is seriously going to bite us all in the butt in a bad way. When are Canadian's going to get fed up with being overly PC and revolt from this disease we call PC.


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## big bad john (27 Feb 2005)

Killing is easy for me': Terrorist


Fateh Kamel returns after four years in French prison


BOB MITCHELL
STAFF REPORTER

A convicted international terrorist who once boasted "killing is easy for me" should have his citizenship revoked, Conservative Party deputy leader Peter MacKay said yesterday.

Fateh Kamel, 44, Algerian-born, returned to Canada on Jan. 29 after serving four years in a French prison for his role in an international terrorist network, MacKay told the Star yesterday.

Before his arrest in Jordan in 1999, terrorism experts believed Kamel, a Canadian citizen, ran an Islamic terrorist cell in Montreal linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.

Among Kamel's proteges was Ahmed Ressam, a failed refugee claimant from Montreal who in 1999 was arrested en route to Seattle in a car filled with explosives that he was allegedly going to use to blow up Los Angeles International Airport.

An outraged MacKay, who is also his party's public safety critic, has urged the government to consider revoking Kamel's citizenship, considering his known terrorist affiliations.

He also hopes the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has Kamel under surveillance. "I don't know if he is under any watch list but I would certainly hope he is and that our security service (CSIS) is closely monitoring him," MacKay said.

Alex Swann, spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, who is also in charge of border security, said yesterday the government is aware of Kamel but refused to say whether any investigation was underway into the circumstances of his return.

"Certainly this gentleman is a Canadian citizen and we're aware of his arrest and conviction in France, but we don't comment on any individual or operational matters around persons of interest," Swann said. "He is a citizen and he has the right to return to Canada."

Kamel was quoted in a special terrorism report in the Seattle Times in 2002 bragging about fighting for his cause.

"I am never afraid of death," Kamel said. "And when I want it, no one will stop me. For the jihad is the jihad, and the killing is easy for me." 

MacKay called Kamel's return to Canada alarming.

He said it is a classic case of a person who, because of his past activities and convictions, poses a potential security risk.

"There is just no way of getting around it ... this is a bad dude," MacKay said. 

He learned last Wednesday that Kamel was back in Canada. He doesn't know where he is, but he previously lived in the Montreal area with his wife and young son.

"We're not just solely talking about one conviction. This fellow has been linked to a wave of terrorist activities around the globe," MacKay said. "He's admitted to being part of an Algerian terrorist group, an Islamic extremist organization with links to Al Qaeda.

"He's someone who has not just been accused or suspected of terrorism, he's actually been convicted in France of a plot to bomb a subway."

Even though Canada's current immigration policy prevents barring Canadian citizens from entering the country, MacKay said he's drafting a letter to McLellan, asking her to look into the circumstances surrounding Kamel's return.

"Is there sufficient evidence to re-examine his citizenship and can you revoke it after the fact?" MacKay asked. 

"We should be looking at him and possibly sending him back to Algeria. There is a pretty strong circumstantial case right now to suggest this guy isn't deserving of Canadian citizenship."

MacKay doesn't know whether Kamel's activities have been restricted since he returned.

"It's my understanding he was released from prison early because of good behaviour, but surely there must be some restrictions on his parole,"

MacKay said. "What crossed my mind was that French authorities wanted him out of the country and we were all too willing to take him."

Although French authorities never proved Kamel's connection with bin Laden, they said during his trial that they believed he had been given the responsibility of creating and transporting false identification and documents used by extremists in North America as well as in Turkey, Bulgaria, Belgium, France and Bosnia.

According to France's top anti-terrorist cop Jean-Louis Bruguière, French authorities followed Kamel around the world for six months before his arrest and alleged he met point men for various terrorist networks.

Kamel, who initially came to Canada in 1988, fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia, say terrorist experts, and was considered to be an expert document forger for Islamic terrorists.

A former owner of a Montreal crafts store, Kamel was arrested by Jordanian authorities Dec. 15, 1999 and extradited to France, where he was tried in Paris in 2001 and convicted in March 2002.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in various terrorist plots, including a subway bomb plot, and supplying fraudulent passports to known extremists.

Although Kamel admitted his connection with Ressam in Canada, during his trial he denied being involved in any criminal activity. 

But French authorities believed Kamel was the leader of Groupe Roubaix, a notoriously violent group of Algerian Islamic bombers and robbers that used machine guns and hand grenade launchers.

The group was also believed linked to the GIA terrorist organization, which was responsible for the commandeering of an Air France fight in December 1994 on the tarmac in Algiers. Two passengers were killed and the plane was wired with dynamite with the intent to blow it up over Paris. That was averted when the four hijackers were killed by French commandos.

Canadian intelligence had Kamel and his Montreal apartment under surveillance for two years ending in 1998, but decided he and Ressam were nothing more than petty thieves and immigrant visa violators.


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## mo-litia (27 Feb 2005)

This guy needs a short drop and a quick stop.

It's harder for me to say that I'm a proud Canadian after I hear about crap like this.


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## George Wallace (27 Feb 2005)

This also doesn't comment too well on us.   I hope that this is just a reporters statement as opposed to the state that our Intelligence community is in.



> Canadian intelligence had Kamel and his Montreal apartment under surveillance for two years ending in 1998, but decided he and Ressam were nothing more than petty thieves and immigrant visa violators.



GW


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## Infanteer (27 Feb 2005)

Hmmm...maybe there is a nice seat in Guantonimo Bay waiting for this guy?


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## mo-litia (27 Feb 2005)

Infanteer said:
			
		

> Hmmm...maybe there is a nice seat in Guantonimo Bay waiting for this guy?



LMAO, hopefully it's an electric one! ;D


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## ArmyRick (28 Feb 2005)

This whole issue makes me   and wishing we had a legal system that would protect the greater good of the people and not worry about every ones right to do this and right to that, etc, etc.  :rage:


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