CANADA
Safety minister silent amid claims that the spy accused of helping girls join ISIS was working for Canada
Jason Fekete, Lee Berthiaume and Ian MacLeod, Postmedia News | March 13, 2015 | Last Updated: Mar 14 12:41 AM ET
15-year-old Amira Abase, left, Kadiza Sultana,16, centre, and Shamima Begum, 15, go through Gatwick airport, south of London, before they caught their flight to Turkey on Tuesday Feb 17.
AP Photo/Metropolitan Police15-year-old Amira Abase, left, Kadiza Sultana,16, centre, and Shamima Begum, 15, go through Gatwick airport, south of London, before they caught their flight to Turkey on Tuesday Feb 17.
Canada’s embassy in Jordan, which is run by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s handpicked ambassador and former top bodyguard, is being linked to an international terrorism and spy scandal.
The federal government refused to comment Friday on multiple Turkish media reports that a foreign spy allegedly working for Canadian intelligence — and who was arrested in Turkey for helping three young British girls travel to Syria to join Islamic State terrorists — was working for the Canadian Embassy in Amman, Jordan.
The reports also say the suspect has confessed to working for Canadian intelligence and was doing so in order to obtain Canadian citizenship. He also previously travelled to Canada with the embassy’s approval, said one report.
Canada’s ambassador to Jordan is Bruno Saccomani, the former RCMP officer who was in charge of Mr. Harper’s security detail until the prime minister appointed him almost two years ago as the envoy in Amman, with dual responsibility for Iraq.
The suspect in custody is a Syrian intelligence operative named Mohammed Mehmet Rashid — dubbed Doctor Mehmet Rashid — who helped the three London schoolgirls travel to Syria upon their arrival in Turkey, according to Yeni Safak, a conservative and Islamist Turkish newspaper known for its strong support of the government.
Other Turkish news outlets identified the man with slightly different spellings of Mohammed al Rashid or Mohammad Al Rashed.
Police arrested Mr. Rashid more than a week ago in a province near Turkey’s border with Syria, multiple news agencies reported.
The initial police report said Mr. Rashid claimed that he was working for the Canadian intelligence agency and that he had flown to Jordan to share intelligence with other agents working for the Canadian embassy in Amman, various news outlets reported.
The suspect also claimed he worked for the intelligence service in order to get Canadian citizenship, said various news reports. The Turkish intelligence service confiscated his cellphone and computer, which were provided by the Canadian government, according to reports.
The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld
The Canadian Press/Adrian WyldPublic Safety Minister Steven Blaney outside the House of Commons in Ottawa Wednesday.
Records show that Mr. Rashid has entered Turkey 33 times with his Syrian passport since June 2013, and agents discovered passport images of 17 more people, aside from the ones belonging to the three British girls, Yeni Safak reported.
The Citizen has not been able to independently confirm the Turkish news reports.
The reports say the Syrian agent received deposits of between $800 and $1,500 through bank accounts opened in the United Kingdom.
A federal government source in Canada said the individual arrested is not a Canadian citizen and “was not an employee of CSIS,” but no one in government has said this on the record or categorically ruled out reports that the alleged spy was working for or helping the Canadian government in some capacity.
Turkish news channel A Haber reported the 28-year-old man was a dentist who fled the Syrian conflict into Jordan, and sought asylum in another country before the Canadian embassy took an interest in his asylum case.
He then travelled to Canada by approval of the embassy and stayed for a while before returning to Jordan, according to news outlets that cited A Haber’s coverage.
The news channel claimed he contacted a Canadian embassy official in Jordan called “Matt,” and quoted Turkish police sources that Matt was likely an employee of a British intelligence service, said a report from Istanbul-based newspaper Daily Sabah, citing the A Haber coverage. The suspect only acted as a smuggler and was paid by the intelligence service.
A Haber has released two different videos of the man arrested, with one video allegedly showing him leading the girls into Syria and another of him in custody being led away by security officials.
[EDIT ... ]
In Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney has refused to comment, citing operational security. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, RCMP and Prime Minister’s Office have also refused comment.
[EDIT ...]
NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said the government’s refusal to deny the reports out of Turkey lends credence to them being true.
“They haven’t responded,” he said. “And in light of the fact that there’s been more than 24 hours for the government to establish the facts as to what happened, I can only conclude that there is some truth to this story.”
‘If it is someone who was attached to our, you know, spy service, then it does call into question exactly the oversight here’
Mr. Dewar said if the reports are true, that would be devastating for Canada’s credibility, and, at the very least, reiterate the need to increase oversight over the spy agency’s activities.
“We have been engaged with someone who is not blocking people from travelling to Syria to join up with ISIL, they’re actually facilitating it,” he said.
Should the allegations prove true, Mr. Dewar said there should be an immediate investigation into what happened, including how CSIS would have recruited such a person to work for it. At the same time, he questioned who would lead such an investigation and where the report would go given the lack of independent monitoring over the spy agency.
“This is why we don’t support bill C-51,” he said. “There’s no proper oversight right now. It’s a black hole.”
Mr. Dewar also noted the reports say Mr. Rashid was recruited out of Canada’s embassy in Jordan, which is headed by Mr. Saccomani.
He said it is ironic given the government defended Mr. Saccomani’s lack of diplomatic experience by touting his background in security issues when the prime minister appointed him to the post last year.
Exactly why Turkish officials chose to publicly identify the man’s affiliation as being with Canada, and possibly CSIS, remains unclear.
Relations between Turkey and Canada were rocky after the Conservative government formally recognized the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during the First World War as a genocide, but they have become more cordial in recent years.
In particular, Canada has remained largely silent while other Western countries are criticizing Turkey for not doing more to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Syria, many of whom have joined ISIS.
EXTRACT - FULL @ SOURCE
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/03/13/safety-minister-silent-amid-claims-that-the-spy-accused-of-helping-girls-join-isis-was-working-for-canada/
COMMENT
Wow, how cool is this?!
That was quite a catch for Turkey, who is always being portrayed as facilitator of border crossings to Syria.
A red face for Harper, if this proves true. And everyone will be looking at that Jordan embassy rather suspiciously.
There's also British intelligence involved somehow?
Really enjoyed this.
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