Egyptian man accused of terrorism suing the federal government for $34 million in damages after deportation row

A man from Toronto accused of having links to Al-Qaeda is now suing the federal government for $34 million claiming that it has violated his rights while trying to deport him for over a decade.

Mahmoud Jaballah has been battling the Canadian government since his arrival to Canada in 1997. Jaballah and his family arrived from Egypt with fake Saud Arabian passports and received refugee status. He claimed that he faced persecution from Egyptian authorities who accused him of having ties with terrorist organizations.

Since 1999 the federal government has been trying to deport Jaballah and has insisted that he is a national security threat.

The federal government utilized a national security certificate on three different occasions in an attempt to have Jaballah removed from the country. The certificates legally allow for evidence to be kept from the accused. All three certificates have been overturned by the justice system which cited a lack of evidence.

In Egypt, Jaballah was accused of being involved in the assassination of Answar Adat, the third Egyptian president. He was later found innocent of these charges.

Shortly after his arrival in Toronto, and three years before 9/11, Jaballah had invited Ahmed Khadr to his home for tea. Khadr was believed to be a lead financier of Al-Qaeda and a personal associate of Osama bin Laden.

Mahmoud Jaballah isn’t the first of his family to have faced deportation. Jaballah’s son was successfully deported in 2012 for gang affiliated activities.

Al-Munzir Es-Sayyid was cited as a “danger to the public” after he was arrested for leading a gang involved in several violent robberies of sex workers.

This isn’t the first time an alleged former terrorist has claimed the government has violated his rights. In 2017, Omar Khadr, also an Al-Qaeda member was awarded $10.5 million government by the Trudeau Liberals.