Deportation hearing told of man’s al-Qaida service
TORONTO — Jahanzeb Malik thought he had found a brother in arms when he discovered the man who had hired him to install hardwood floors in a house near Toronto had fought on the side of the Muslims in Bosnia.
Before long, Malik confided that he, too, was an Islamic fighter. He said he had just spent two years in Libya, where he had been part of al-Qaida as right-hand man to the commander.
But the friend he told all this to was an undercover officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Tuesday the Mountie began testifying at an immigration hearing in Toronto that will decide whether Malik should be deported.
“He stated that he was trained in an al-Qaida military camp and that his training was 10 days long and the training consisted of shooting from different positions, shooting mainly AK-47s, and also physical conditioning,” the officer recalled.
Testifying under tight restrictions that prevented reporters from repeating even his pseudonym, let alone seeing his face, the officer said Malik told him he had travelled to Libya to fight and had been part of an Englishspeaking al-Qaida unit.
“He said his favourite weapon was the AK-47,” the officer said. He also spoke about operating a machinegun mounted in a pickup truck and using improvised explosive devices, although he said he did not know how to make the bombs himself.
Underlying his talk was a firm belief in the al-Qaida cause, the undercover officer said.
The officer’s testimony added compelling details to allegations made by the Canada Border Services Agency after Malik’s arrest March 9, when officials claimed he had plotted to bomb the U.S. consulate in Toronto.
The CBSA is attempting to deport Malik to his native Pakistan on the grounds he is a security threat. Although Malik came to Canada in 2004 to study at York University and is a landed immigrant, he is not a Canadian citizen.
The undercover officer testified that Malik told him while he was in Libya, he had married a local woman who supported him and his cause. He learned a lot fighting, he told the officer, and mentioned being stranded for two days in a building with nothing but water and bread.
When his family found out what he was doing, they disowned him, the officer recalled Malik telling him.
Canadian authorities were also aware of him, he disclosed. But he said he didn’t care because if he was arrested him he would simply pray all the time, and if he died he would go to paradise.
Under questioning, Malik testified he had spent only two months in Libya and had passed his time teaching English every other day at a school in Benghazi, tutoring a student and going for walks along the Mediterranean.
“I had an opportunity, it was a job opportunity, so I went there to, you know, make some money,” the 33-year-old flooring contractor and father of two told the Immigration & Refugee Board on the first of a scheduled three days of hearings. While he said he had obtained his English as a second language certificate online, he could not remember what it was called.
Upon returning to Canada, he said he was briefly questioned by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Soon after beginning his testimony, Malik announced he would no longer answer questions — despite being warned under the Immigration & Refugee Protection Act, such conduct could result in a $100,000 fine and five years in prison. “I’m choosing not to answer the questions,” he said.
Anser Farooq, his lawyer, told reporters after the hearing his client had opted to remain silent because he wanted the proceedings to end as quickly as possible so he could return to Pakistan. “He wants out of Canada,” he said. The account of having fought in Libya was just a far-fetched story he made up to impress his friend, the lawyer said.