After a 26 year legal battle the Canadian government has made the decision to deport Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, who was a terrorist active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
After a 26 year legal battle Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, a Palestinian terrorist who was active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has recently been deported from Canada to Lebanon. The Palestinian terror organization was founded in 1967 and made the headlines in 1968 after assaulting an El Al flight taking off in Athens. Mohammad and the other PFLP terrorists fired 83 rounds and lobbed grenades at the Boeing 707 killing an Israeli passenger. A Greek court had sentenced him to 17 years imprisonment but he was set free in 1970 after Palestinian terrorists hi-jacked a Greek plane and demanded his release, threatening to kill all passengers on the plane if Greek authorities didn’t comply. After living in Madrid with his wife, Mohammad arrived in Canada in February 1987 avoiding Canadian immigration authorities by concealing his past.
In December of 1987 when the Canadian government learned about Mohammad’s violent past with the PFLP, he was notified that he would be deported but Mohammad was able to postpone his deportation for 26 years by claiming refugee status and constantly appealing his case to the Canadian courts. Canada’s Immigration Minister Jason Kenney stated “Mr. Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad represents just how broken Canada’s immigration and refugee determination systems had become under previous governments.”
“It really was a thorn in our side, much like some of the known Nazi war criminals who were able to dodge the system,” said Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. “There was just something glaringly unjust about his ability to take advantage of everything that Canada had to offer even though he had blood on his hands.”
“This case is almost a comedy of errors, with delays, with a system that was so bogged down in redundant process and endless appeals that it seemed to some that we would never be able to enforce the integrity of Canada’s immigration system,” said Minister Kenney. Kenney also stated that he hopes that Canada’s new Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act will ensure that convicted criminals will no longer be able to spend an extended period of time within Canada.
Nevertheless, “after a 26-year stay in Canada, we finally succeeded in deporting this convicted terrorist killer,” said Minister Kenney. The Canadian government has asserted that since Mohammad had married a Lebanese woman, he can legally live in Lebanon and that his life would not be in danger. Kenney’s statements were echoed by Fogel who said “Although long delayed, justice was ultimately not denied in this case. Just as it is critical that we provide swift and compassionate support to legitimate refugees, it is likewise essential that we prevent Canada from being used as a safe haven for terrorists.”
By Rachel Avraham