CSIS reveals key evidence ahead of Peshdary trial
Days before accused ISIL recruiter Awso Peshdary is scheduled to go on trial, CSIS has been forced to finally hand over a top-secret search warrant to his defence team.
The intelligence agency has been fighting in court for two years to keep the key evidence secret from the defence, but a rare court order has compelled them to disclose it on the eve of Peshdary’s trial, scheduled for jury selection on Monday.
CSIS has long tried to keep it secret, saying in court it’s covered by national security privilege and that it’s irrelevant to the RCMP’s terrorism case against Peshdary. But this week Ontario Superior Court Justice Julianne Parfett ruled otherwise and ordered the intelligence service to disclose the materials.
The court order marks the latest victory in defence lawyer Solomon Friedman’s legal fight for thirdparty records from CSIS. The spy agency plays a key role in the RCMP’s case. Abdullah Milton, who was paid by the RCMP to infiltrate an Ottawa ISIL network allegedly linked to Peshdary, was a former CSIS asset.
The Peshdary legal hearings have also revealed that Milton destroyed notes he kept at the behest of CSIS. It should be noted that the CSIS asset’s intelligence was essential to the RCMP investigation against Peshdary, court has heard.
The spy agency’s relationship with Milton is key to the case because if not for CSIS intelligence, the RCMP would not have been able to secure a search warrant for their target. In fact, the RCMP was twice denied authorization for a search warrant by the courts because their grounds were too shaky. It wasn’t until CSIS afforded its intelligence to the RCMP that the national police force was finally able to win a search warrant after its third try. That warrant targeted John Maguire, an Ottawa man who joined ISIL and appeared in a worldwide propaganda video that condemned infidels. Maguire is presumed dead overseas.
The warrant allegedly intercepted calls between Peshdary and his alleged star recruit, Maguire.
The court order compelling CSIS to finally hand over key disclosure evidence comes days after the RCMP suddenly said they found 1,900 documents that should have been given to the defence some three years ago when Peshdary was arrested on terrorism charges.
The forced, 11th-hour disclosure to the defence could jeopardize the entire case should his lawyer request an adjournment or a stay, or later argue that his client’s case took too long to get to court.
Police are required by law to disclose all relevant evidence so the accused can mount a full and fair defence, and that evidence is supposed to be handed over long before trial dates are set.
On Jan. 24, federal prosecutors finally handed over the 1,900 documents that, among other things, reveal that the RCMP edited a draft of an application for a key search warrant at the behest of Canada’s spy agency.
Friedman’s third-party records application has yielded rare fruit, and its disclosed materials so far provide an inside look into the inner workings of the country ’s antiterrorism investigators.
They paint a portrait of an RCMP investigative team that was keeping secrets, even from one another.
The lead RCMP investigator only learned that Milton was a CSIS asset when they moved to expand their Peshdary investigation and get a wire to target Milton.
For unknown reasons, top Mounties at the RCMP headquarters also failed to forward the 1,900 pages of disclosure to their own investigative team. The RCMP’s primary investigator in Project Servant — an investigation that led to charges against Peshdary — asked RCMP headquarters for full disclosure shortly after Peshdary ’s arrest. Again, for reasons that remain a mystery, evidence that was marked “relevant” was then not disclosed to the defence until the eve of trial.
According to a CSIS briefing to the RCMP, Peshdary accompanied Maguire in the car ride to a Montreal airport, where Maguire boarded a plane for overseas. Peshdary kept in contact with Maguire while he was in Syria, with CSIS intercepting four conversations in the summer of 2013, according to court filings.
Milton was initially a CSIS asset who had been recruited despite an assessment by the spy agency that portrayed him as a parasitic psychopath.
CSIS had approached Milton in January 2011 and he was later assessed for reliability in two interviews in 2012. Milton was first interviewed on Oct. 30, 2012, for three hours, then again on Oct. 31, 2012, for five hours. Beyond the interviews, government agents also investigated his private life.
The Muslim convert was on welfare and teetering on bankruptcy at the time. He had significant mental health issues and had been married at least seven times. He was also arrested for domestic assault.
The Mounties came across Milton during their investigation into Peshdary. They wanted to include Milton in a wiretap as a person of interest. Milton would go from being an RCMP target to a prized agent who was paid at least $700,000 to spy on his friends.
The RCMP never asked CSIS about its credibility assessment of Milton, saying they wanted an unbiased view of their new agent, and that if there had been any problems with Milton the intelligence service would have cut him adrift.
The RCMP project culminated in the arrests of Peshdary and three other young Ottawa men — Vanier twins Ashton and Carlos Larmond, and Suliman Mohamed.