The Globe and Mail reported that a former operative for Canada’s spy agency, who once trafficked three British teens to Islamic State militants, was released from a Turkish prison in early August.HO/AFP/Getty Images
The Conservative Party is calling on the federal government to say whether a “dangerous ISIS child trafficker” has been granted asylum in Canada.
The Globe and Mail reported Friday that a former operative for Canada’s spy agency, who once trafficked three British teens to Islamic State militants, was released from a Turkish prison in early August. The Globe cited a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
Neither the federal government nor the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will confirm whether Mohammed al-Rashed, a Syrian human smuggler for the Islamic State and a CSIS double agent, has been relocated to Canada.
The Globe reported that Mr. al-Rashed, who was recruited to spy in 2013 for CSIS and was freed from prison on Aug. 5, had been incarcerated in Turkey since 2015 on terrorism and smuggling charges. The source said CSIS had planned to relocate him after his release.
The Globe is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to discuss national-security matters involving the Canadian government. The Turkish embassy in Ottawa did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Conservative national security critic Raquel Dancho described Mr. al-Rashed as a “dangerous ISIS child trafficker” and “dangerous criminal,” and said Canadians deserve to know if he has been granted asylum in Canada.
“Mr. al-Rashed was convicted of smuggling three school-aged girls as young as 15 years old to ISIS terrorists, this after being recruited by CSIS,” she said. “Canadians deserve to know that they and their children can walk the streets safely.”
She called on Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to “tell Canadians the truth, and if the Trudeau Liberal government put a dangerous criminal on our streets, they must explain themselves to Canadians.”
Mr. Mendicino declined to say if Mr. al-Rashed had been relocated to Canada when asked by The Globe on Thursday.
“For obvious reasons, we don’t want elected officials commenting on operations. I would leave it at that,” he said.
CSIS spokesperson Brandon Champagne would also not say whether Mr. al-Rashed is in Canada. “There are important limits to what CSIS can confirm or deny given the need to protect sensitive techniques, methods and sources of intelligence,” he said in a statement Thursday.
National-security expert Wesley Wark, senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said Mr. Mendicino would have had to give his approval if Mr. al-Rashed was given asylum.
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“That is certainly the historic practice with regard to defectors and this seems to be a parallel case,” he said. “If you are going to settle a defector, who may have worked for the Canadians or an ally in Canada, it requires a look first at the file by an interdepartmental committee, which is actually called the defector committee, and then ministerial approval.”
Mr. Wark said it would not surprise him if Canada did resettle Mr. al-Rashed here or possibly a third country, given his spy work on behalf of CSIS.
“Relocation is normally part of the package, particularly if this guy was smart enough to ask for it,” he said.
The source told The Globe that Turkish authorities did not want Mr. al-Rashed in their country. Their options were either to send him back to Syria, where he would likely face death over his involvement with foreign powers and the Islamic State, or to Canada, the source said.
Mr. al-Rashed told Turkish intelligence after he was arrested that Canada had promised him political asylum.
Richard Kerbaj, author of The Secret History of the Five Eyes, a new book that recounts parts of Mr. al-Rashed’s story, revealed in late August that CSIS withheld information about its recruit’s role in smuggling the three British girls until after Mr. al-Rashed was arrested by Turkish authorities. Mr. al-Rashed allegedly helped the trio cross over into Syria after they arrived in Turkey from London on Feb. 17, 2015. They were aged between 15 and 16 at the time.
It was only after Mr. al-Rashed was arrested in Turkey on Feb. 28 of that year that CSIS arranged to meet with the head of London’s Metropolitan Police counterterrorism command. At the time, Britain’s counterterrorism police were trying to find the three teens. Mr. Kerbaj alleges that the meeting was part of an effort by CSIS to cover up and obscure the agency’s role in recruiting Mr. al-Rashed.
Mr. Kerbaj said Mr. al-Rashed was relaying intelligence to the Canadian embassy in Jordan, and that he passed along the three schoolgirls’ passport details – but only after they had already crossed into Syria. He said Mr. al-Rashed also helped Canadian intelligence officers map the locations of the homes of Islamic State fighters and supplied screenshots of electronic conversations he was having with them.
CSIS has declined to comment on the allegations in the book.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended CSIS when the book’s allegations were reported in British newspapers in late August, saying CSIS has to be “flexible and to be creative” combatting terrorism.
The case of the three girls, 16-year-old Kadiza Sultana, 15-year-old Shamima Begum and 15-year-old Amira Abase, were among more than 500 women from Western countries who went to Syria to join the Islamic State.
Two of the three are believed to have died in the Islamic State war zone. Ms. Begum, whose British citizenship was revoked in 2019, is in a Kurdish prison camp, where she gave birth to three children, all of whom died in harsh conditions.