Canada court says bin Laden employee can be freed

OTTAWA, Feb 15 (Reuters) A Canadian court decided today that an Egyptian man who worked for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden should be released even though the court concluded he had perjured himself and had probably engaged in terrorism.

Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that the suspect, Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub, still posed a danger to Canadian society but that this threat could be neutralized by the imposition of what he said would amount to house arrest.

Mahjoub has been held without trial since 2000 on a security certificate -- which allows the indefinite detention of suspects if they are deemed a security threat -- and has engaged in years of legal battles with the government over attempts to deport him.

Justice Mosley agreed with Mahjoub, ''on a balance of probabilities, that he will not be removed from Canada within a reasonable time'' and should be released from detention until a final decision is made.

Mahjoub admits to having worked for bin Laden in Sudan in the 1990s but denies any terrorist activities.

Mosley adopted previous findings of the court that there was an objectively reasonable suspicion that Mahjoub: - had been a high-ranking member of what the court called the Islamic terrorist organization Vanguards of Conquest - ''had engaged in terrorism'' - had significant contacts with ''persons associated with international Islamic terrorism,'' including bin Laden and a man accused of helping bomb the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

On three prior occasions, the Federal Court had found that Mahjoub posed a danger to national security, and it found that he had lied under oath about his associations.

Mosley said this therefore raised doubt about Mahjoub's assurances ''with respect to his eschewal of violence and of the Islamic extremist cause.'' Nonetheless, Mosley concluded: ''I am satisfied that while Mr. Mahjoub's lies are troubling they are not of such a fundamental nature that they should weigh as a significant factor in determining that he would be a future danger if released from detention on strict terms and conditions.'' He noted that Mahjoub, who is in his mid-40s, was ''an ailing and aging man preoccupied with his health...'' Mahjoub has gone on hunger strike to protest his detention.

The courts have said he could be deported but that if he were sent to Egypt, where he has been sentenced in absentia to prison, he faced the risk of torture and his case should therefore be re-examined.

In making his decision, Mosley said he had given some weight to the British trend of releasing what he called terrorist detainees on control orders.

In addition, he pointed to the cases of two al Qaeda suspects who have been released in Canada on bail under strict conditions -- Moroccan Adil Charkaoui and Algerian Mohamed Harkat. No significant issues have arisen from their release, he said.

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