- TORONTO (CP) -- The U.S.-led
war on terrorism has made al-Qaeda an even more dangerous organization,
a senior Canadian intelligence official said Monday.
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- The blunt assessment of the group's increased ìlethal
effectivenessî came during a bail hearing for an Egyptian national
detained as a threat to Canada's national security.
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- U.S. action in Afghanistan that followed the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks ìsignificantly degradedî al-Qaeda's infrastructure
and its ability to provide support for other extremist Islamic groups,
said the official, identified only as J.P.
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- However, that merely prompted terrorist mastermind Osama
bin Laden to put out calls to like-minded groups "to take over the
fight," said J.P., the deputy chief of counter-terrorism with the
Canadian Security and Intelligence Service.
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- "That appeal has been effective," J.P. told
Federal Court Justice Eleanor Dawson, saying that the effect has been a
"net increase" in terrorist activities and the results can be
seen in "broken bodies and blood in the streets."
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- "We now have a more dangerous al-Qaeda."
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- J.P. was testifying in the bail-release application of
Mohammad Mahjoub, 44, an Egyptian refugee who has been in a Toronto jail
since being detained as a threat to national security since June 2000.
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- Canada's spy agency alleges that Mr. Mahjoub was a leading
member of the Egyptian terrorist group Vanguards of Conquest, which has
close ties to Mr. bin Laden's al-Qaeda.
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- Mr. Mahjoub is deemed a threat based in part on people
he knew or associated with. But Mr. Norris told the court that a man deemed
a serious security threat in the United Kingdom because of his senior status
in the Egyptian terrorist group was recently freed without conditions.
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- The last assessment of Mr. Mahjoub's security threat
is two years old and therefore may no longer be valid, the lawyer said
in an interview.
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- Egyptian authorities tried Mr. Mahjoub in absentia and
sentenced him to 15 years. He maintains he would be tortured if returned
to Egypt.
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- J.P. testified the intelligence service is sensitive
to the possibility that information from foreign sources could be wrong
or politically motivated. He also said CSIS annually reviews the human-rights
records of countries with whom it has a working relationship.
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