Mahmoud Jaballah

The month after entering Canada, CSIS alleges Jaballah began phoning suspected al-Jihad members still living in Pakistan and spoke of acquiring new clothing, which Canadian authorities allege was a code word for travel documents.[10] He also remained in contact with al-Jihad ruling council members Ahmad Salama Mabruk and Thirwat Salah Shehata, the latter had served as Jaballah's lawyer in Egypt and married Jaballah's sister.[10][13][17][18] He denied any relationship with Mabruk.[4]

In September, Jaballah was advised to use caution when contacting "the father", believed to be a reference to Ayman al-Zawahiri. He responded that he was usually contacted by the father, not vice versa. Two months later, he mentioned to Shehata that he hadn't heard from the father, but was assured that he was all right and just had some difficulties communicating recently. In a later phone call to Yemen, he asked a colleague to deliver a message to the father from him. In April 1997, Jaballah received a telephone call from the father who asked him how he was faring in Canada.[10] Ten months later, he was given the number for an Inmarsat satellite phone to contact "Mohammed", which Canadians allege was a reference to Mohammed al-Zawahiri, and phoned it frequently.[10]

In October 1996, al-Jihad's London leader Adel Abdel Bary contacted Jaballah to say that he was shipping him several books and periodicals, including al-Mujahideen and al-Faqr for distribution in Canada, and copies of the Shifaa and some audio cassettes he asked to be forwarded on to Shehata. He also offered to ship him a phone card printing machine to ensure he was able to easily communicate overseas.[10]

In November 1996, Shehata, his brother-in-law told Jaballah that he was in Syria and preparing to go stay with "Daoud", believed to be a reference to Ibrahim Eidarous who was staying in Azerbaijan.[10] That same month, he was informed by a friend that Mohammad Zeki Mahjoub had moved to Toronto, whom both had known in Afghanistan.[10] He later met Mahjoub briefly while picking his wife up from the Khadr's house where Mahjoub was also visiting. Jaballah returned the greeting, introducing himself to Ibrahim by the kunya name Abu Ahmad and left. Although Mahjoub was found with the phone number of Jaballah's son at the time of his arrest, 289-2361 under the name Abu Ahmed ("Father of Ahmed"), Jaballah denied having ever spoken on the phone with him.[19][20]

On December 13, Jaballah was informed that his friend "Najib" had been hospitalised, which authorities suggest was a reference to Ahmad Salama Mabruk being imprisoned along with Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mahmud Hisham al-Hennawi by Russian authorities as they tried to cross into Chechnya.[21] Jaballah promised to raise funds in Canada to help Nijab while Shehata did the same in Azerbaijan.[10] Hani Yusef al-Sebai contacted him at this time, explaining that he was staying near Shehata and helping with the fundraising for Mabruk's release. During one telephone call, Jaballah hung up abruptly on al-Sebai explaining he had security concerns and they should speak on his cell phone in the future.[10] He contacted Eidarous on January 1 to ask how he would arrange a cash transfer from the British Bank Middle East to Azerbaijan under the name Khalil Yaseen Mohammed Mahmoud, and a few days later phoned Shehata to say he was unable to transfer the funds to him. Shehata told him to just send the funds for Mabruk's release to Daoud's postal box in London.[10]

In September 1997, Bary was replaced by Ibrahim Eidarous as the leader of the London organisation, and Jaballah began phoning him instead, still referring to him as "Daoud", to discuss matters.[10]

In July 1998, Jaballah phoned Ibrahim Ismail Allam and passed on a message Shehata had asked him to deliver.[10] A month later, Shehata phoned Jaballah and told him that he'd moved to Lebanon, but didn't have a phone in his new location. He never again contacted Jaballah.[10][22]

In the summer of 1998, following the bombings of two American embassies, Eidarous, Bary, al-Sebai, Khalid al-Fawwaz and Sayyid Ahmed al-Maqsud were among eight men arrested in London, England for their relationship with al-Jihad. Canadian authorities interviewed Jaballah on September 21 and again on the 26th to question him since he had phoned all five men.[10] Jaballah said that he had read of the London arrests on the al-Hayat website but hadn't heard who specifically had been arrested.[10] When shown a list of the arrested men's names in Arabic, he claimed to not recognise any of them, and when challenged retorted that perhaps he had known them by other names since he knew a lot of people overseas, but didn't recognise the names in front of him. He was asked to name everybody he'd contacted who lived overseas and give CSIS their telephone numbers. Jaballah refused.[23] He further stated that the bombings were likely carried out by the Egyptian Intelligence Service to allow them to arrest those opposed to the regime.[10] After the interviews, Jaballah phoned Eidarous and told him that Canadian authorities had asked about him, and even referred to him as Daoud.[10]

He has since argued that he knew Bary due to his role as director of the International Office for the Defence of Egyptian People, and was seeking help preparing for his upcoming hearings before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, although he admitted having contacted him a month after arriving in Canada, several months before he began preparing for his IRB hearing.[24][25]

In 1998, Barakat Fahim Ali Mohamed was contacted by Jaballah, who wanted an immediate set of false documentation for himself and his family in case Canadian authorities declined his request for refugee status or pursued him. In October 1998, he asked Mohamed whether he had received the necessary photographs of his children and was disappointed to learn that he had not.[10] In March 1999, Jaballah unsuccessfully tried to send Mohamed a fax with his address details, and phoned him repeatedly. He was told that "the thing" was ready for him, and would be sent out after Eid, assuming the fax had been received by then. He was given details about a Yemeni post office box where it is believed he sent money to pay for the fake identification.[10] By the end of April, Canadian authorities allege that Mohamed sent a letter postmarked in Yemen and signed "Murad", which was addressed to "Bellal", but sent to Jaballah's postal box. It simply stated that the sender was sorry to have not heard from him since Eid, and that he hoped he would get in contact soon.[10]

Jaballah has described a casual relationship with Ahmed Khadr, stating that his wife had gone grocery shopping with Khadr's mother-in-law, and he had thus invited Khadr into his house for fifteen minutes during which the two drank tea and discussed their respective relief work in Peshawar, Pakistan. He said his wife had bought the Khadr family groceries when Khadr came to Canada as a refugee. He said he met Khadr when he dropped by to pick up items being given to his family during a period of time when Khadr's family was in need and consistent with Muslim charity, he offered Khadr some tea.[3][7] Jaballah has said that he never met Khadr while in Peshawar, though Khadr's sons Abdullah and Abdurahman have said that they had seen Jaballah around Peshawar and knew him as an Arabic tutor in the city who went by the patronymic Abu Ahmed.[26][27] It was later claimed by the government that he had in fact taught the Khadrs while working as a teacher at two schools in the city, and that his wife had asked the family to deny any closer connection than what he'd previously mentioned to the authorities.[28]

Jaballah and Mustafa Krer met through mutual friends, and Jaballah has said that he phoned Krer for help finding Egyptian newspaper articles he felt could help his refugee claim, and that Krer occasionally visited Jaballah in Toronto. The only time they met in Montreal was when Krer met Jaballah and his wife at Hassan Farhat's apartment to celebrate the birth of a child while Jaballah was in the city seeking cheaper car insurance than he could obtain in Toronto.[10][29] Jaballah met Farhat in 1996 at the Medina Mosque in Toronto, and received help finding a local apartment and learning English.[10][30] Farhat introduced Jaballah to Ali Hussein,[16] and later moved to Winnipeg, Montreal and then back to Toronto.[30] Jaballah also visited him in Winnipeg, and phoned him 41 times,[31] once telling him that Kassem Daher would appreciate any religious audiocassettes that Farhat and Jaballah could send him.[10][32]

In July 1997, a fax believed to have been sent by Mabruk, was sent to Jaballah offering advice on how to approach and recruit Canadians to al-Jihad. He sent a reply stating that he had already begun making contacts in the community, and had found several Muslim Brotherhood members whose loyalty he had "tested" and that he was convinced they were reliable friends. He was congratulated and reminded that al-Jihad could use as many brothers as they could find.[10]