From Refugee To Terrorist

"My family came here in 1976 and I know the hoops and bounds and leaps I had to jump through to obtain my citizenship. So it's a little unsettling that a person of this type managed to skirt the system, as it were."
"It's very bothersome to me because I'm an immigrant of this country."
Mark Freemantle, Toronto

Mr. Freemantle is speaking as a result of his experience. Several experiences in fact, one of the route his family took in migrating to Canada, becoming settled in an unfamiliar country, making a place for themselves, working hard to make that place, and eventually achieving success. Feeling comfortable as Canadians, appreciating the opportunities opened to them and making the most of them. Their citizenship and all it pertains to is of great value to them.

And it sticks in Mr. Freemantle's craw that someone of the disreputable, dangerous, offensive and volatile ilk of Raed Jaser could declare himself a refugee and use, misuse, criminally abuse the system, and still be given the privilege of becoming a landed immigrant and achieving all the benefits of Canadian citizenship. Mr. Freemantle also had a personal introduction to the man now accused along with Chiheb Esseghaier of planning a terrorist attack near Toronto.

Mr. Freemantle had been employed at the Fox & Fiddle Pub in Richmond Hill, Ontario just north of Toronto as the general manager. A patron's behaviour became objectionably obstreperous on a Saturday night and the patron was invited to leave the premises. Instead that patron, Raed Jaser, threatened Mr. Freemantle, and police were called to take charge of the matter.



Born in Abu Dhabi of Palestinian parents, Mr. Jaser lived in Jordan and Germany before acquiring a false passport and travelling to Canada in 1993 where he made a refugee claim. That refugee status was denied him, but he remained in Canada. He was arrested for fraud in 1995, and two years later he was convicted of failure to comply with a recognizance. Soon enough he was convicted of multiple fraud charges, writing bad cheques, defrauding several companies.

And then, on December 16, 2000 he showed up at the Fox & Fiddle where, as Mr. Freemantle describes it Mr. Jaser "was basically just asked to leave and refused to leave, and the Trespass to Property Act allows the security staff to use force, reasonably, to remove somebody from the property. And, of course, there were threats made. A physical altercation ensued and he was subsequently arrested by York Region police based on the information from myself and the security staff at the bar."

Out of the charge and conviction of uttering a threat, Mr. Jaser received a two year probation sentence along with a $1,000 fine. And that's when the attention of immigration officers appears to have finally focused on the man. Planning to deport him, federal authorities arrested him in 2004, but were unable to convince the United Arab Emirates where he was born to recognize him as a citizen. Nor would Jordan or Germany accept him from Canada.

Stateless, he was released. And that's when he took steps to ask the National Parole Board for a pardon, granted in the space of nine months. No criminal record on file, he applied for immigration status and was accepted in 2012. In September of that year the Canadian Security Intelligence Service notified the RCMP that it was monitoring the man.

Alongside the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched an investigation they named Project Smooth to look into allegations that Mr. Jaser and Tunisian-born Mr. Esseghaier were planning a terrorist attack.

It took seven months to finally assemble enough evidence and the RCMP arrested both men on terrorism charges, for planning to derail a passenger train approaching Toronto from New York. According to the RCMP, without divulging details, the two men had Al-Qaeda contacts based in Iran who directed their conspiracy.

Finally, the parole board revoked Mr. Jaser's pardon, and his criminal past has been revealed. And he and his co-conspirator will see court at trial early next year.