Terrorism Refuge in Canada

"It is a principle of long standing that an applicant for insurance has an obligation to reveal to the insurer any information that is material to the application. The deceased knew that his past activities were relevant."
"The past actions of the deceased were material to the risk that he posed for the purpose of having his life insured."
"There is no suggestion that [Manufacturers] ought to have known that the information related to the deceased's past existed, and therefore cannot be faulted for not having inquired into it."
"Our conclusion that the deceased intentionally withheld this information is sufficient to establish fraud."
Ontario Court of Appeal

"On Boxing Day 1968, Mohammad and another PFLP member stormed an Israeli passenger plane as it was preparing for takeoff in Athens. They fired 83 rounds and lobbed six grenades at the Boeing 707, killing a[n Israeli] passenger."
"A Greek court sentenced Mohammad to 17 years in prison, but the government released him in 1970 after Palestinian terrorists hijacked a Greek airliner and threatened to kill everyone on board unless he was set free."
"Mohammad eventually made his way to Madrid, where he applied to immigrate to Canada with his wife and three children. He failed to disclose he had been convicted of a terrorist crime, and by the time Canadian authorities caught up with him, he was already in Canada."
"Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, who slipped into Canada in 1987 after attacking an El Al plane in Athens and killing an Israeli passenger, was escorted to Lebanon on Saturday by Canada Border Services Agency officers."
Stewart Bell, National Post, May 13, 2013

A fighter of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC) aims his rifle as he walks past the rubble of destroyed building in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus on September 12, 2013 ANWAR AMROANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images

The Palestinian terrorist known as "Triple M" lied to immigration authorities when he sought a visa to relocate to Canada for himself, his wife and three children in 1987 and entered under an alias to settle in Brantford, Ontario, not far from Toronto. A member of the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, he was convicted in Greece of manslaughter and other offences and imprisoned after he and a fellow terrorist with the PFLP attacked an El Al passenger aircraft at Athens airport.

Image copyright Reuters

The PFLP's  Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, launched numerous attacks from Gaza

He failed to serve his full sentence of 17 years when a demand was made for his release by the PFLP through a hostage negotiation when another plane was stormed by them in Greece. Once free, he moved to Lebanon and from there applied with Canadian consular officials in Spain, for residency in Canada. A year later an immigration official sought to revoke his visa after uncovering his past association with the PFLP.

Mohammad insisted on his innocence, that: "I was a freedom fighter – not a terrorist. I was fighting Israel, the enemy of (his people)... My record in Canada is clean, clear and good. I'll fight to the last moment [to avoid deportation]. I am not going to give up." As was his right under Canadian law, he launched a number of appeals and ended up remaining in Canada another 23 years, at a cost to the government of up to $3 million to contest the appeals.

He was eventually deported back to Lebanon in 2013 where he died of cancer two years later.

He had, while living in Canada, taken out a life insurance policy with Manufacturers Life Insurance Company. His wife, Fadia Khalil Mohammad attempted to collect on the life insurance. The insurance company informed her the contract was voided in view of the fact that her husband had lied on his application and there was no obligation on the part of the insurance company to honour the $75,000 policy. He had informed the insurer he had moved from Spain to Canada, providing a social insurance number.

Image copyright AFP 

The PFLP was officially created in the wake of the 1967 Six Day war

He was not questioned about his citizenship or residency status or whether he had any criminal convictions, and made no mention himself of his past activities. His widow had argued last May before the Superior Court that she should receive the insurance and Justice Shaun O'Brien ruled that no misrepresentation had taken place over immigration status or background, because the insurance company had failed to ask those questions on the application form. The insurance company appealed, maintaining the failure to disclose material facts voided the policy.

And the Appeal Court agreed with the insurance company; that insurance legislation requires applicants to disclose all facts material to the insurance. Shortly after applying for the insurance, pointed out the higher court, the man himself had argued his life would be endangered if he were to be deported to Israel. He had with intention, hidden his past from Manufacturer's, in the very same manner and for the same reason that he had done with immigration authorities.

He was not the sole member of the PLFP to come to Canada. Canada's easy immigration and refugee programs are hugely appealing to those with murky, violent pasts who feel it time they searched out a new life, from post-WWII when Nazis arrived concealing their past, along with East European Nazi collaborators, and later those involved in the mass murder of Tutsis in Rwanda, to active members of Hezbollah, Hamas and Fatah.

Image copyright Hulton Archive

Image caption The group gained international notoriety for a series of airline hijackings