32 Facts About Hassan Almrei

Hassan Almrei has argued that it is "gross stereotyping" to suggest that every person who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan must therefore support Osama bin Laden.

Hassan Almrei was ordered released under house arrest by a Federal Court judge on January 2,2009.

Hassan Almrei has eight siblings in Saudi Arabia, and one sister who moved to Lebanon with her husband.

Hassan Almrei later explained that he had traveled towards Afghanistan, after using his father's contacts in the Muslim Brotherhood to purchase a forged Syrian passport, to attend a Jalalabad camp run by Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a commander in the Northern Alliance.

Hassan Almrei made three subsequent trips into Afghanistan to stay at the camps under Sayyaf's leadership, using his savings to finance the third trip.

Hassan Almrei was in Pakistan from November 1994 through March 1995, and went to Yemen in March 1995.

Hassan Almrei has stated that he closed his business from as early as 1996 to as late as January 1998, and was unemployed from thence on.

Hassan Almrei later claimed to have never spoken to al Taha and that he'd just put down his name on the advice of a friend who told him it would improve his chances of being accepted for a visa.

Hassan Almrei traveled to Thailand in August 1998, where he met a Palestinian people smuggler named Ghaled whom he befriended given his own reputation for acquiring false passports.

Hassan Almrei was picked up at the airport by his "good friend" Ahmed Al Kaysee, whom he'd met while in Afghanistan.

Hassan Almrei later directed two people seeking help acquiring G-class driver's licences to Ishak, who paid him for the referral.

Hassan Almrei suggested that he was interested in finding a prospective wife.

Hassan Almrei says he was contacted by al-Marabh, from the Kunduz guesthouse, while the latter was still living in the United States, and was asked to help him acquire a false passport for C$2,000.

Hassan Almrei says that since al-Marabh introduced himself as "Abu Adnan", he did not immediately recognise that it was him.

Hassan Almrei used his childhood name, "Abu al-Hareth", during the transaction.

Hassan Almrei says he was later asked to find a second passport for him, but refused.

Hassan Almrei was granted refugee status in June 2000, stating that he feared persecution in Syria due to his father's alleged membership in the Muslim Brotherhood.

In January 2000, Hassan Almrei purchased a Middle Eastern eatery named Eat-A-Pita for C$22,000.

Hassan Almrei drafted a fake reference letter from his restaurant to indicate that Ishak was an employee, to help support his case for sponsoring his new wife to become a Canadian.

On September 13,2000, Hassan Almrei's residence was searched and the forged passport was discovered.

Friends spoke of Hassan Almrei as having poor financial sense, and often had to borrow money.

Hassan Almrei reported becoming depressed and being unemployed for a while, until a friend had to travel overseas due to his father's death, and asked Almrei if he would run his business for several months.

On October 19,2001, Hassan Almrei was brought to his lawyer's office for a CSIS interview; where he again reiterated his travels and denied having ever been to Sudan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Dagestan or Chechnya.

Hassan Almrei was confronted with the fact that photographs of Ibn Khattab, Osama bin Laden and Mohamed Atta were found on his computer, though he protested that agents were taking them out of context and had simply been photos from news agencies such as BBC which were included in online stories he had read, and were saved in his web cache.

Hassan Almrei was arrested on a security certificate nevertheless, and the following month judge Daniele Tremblay-Lamer found the certificate "reasonable".

Hassan Almrei said that he had been tasked to run a girls' school in Tajikistan by Al Haramin.

In 2003, Hassan Almrei, who volunteered as a janitor in the prison, witnessed a prison guard being assaulted by an inmate and intervened, helping to pull the attacker off the officer and then hitting an emergency button to call other guards to assist.

Hassan Almrei spent most of his time in prison watching the CPAC Parliamentary channel, and said he did not harbour a grudge against Canada for his treatment since he came from Saudi Arabia and Syria which have even fewer human rights.

At his first application for bail release, in June 2003, it was proposed that Hassan Almrei, who has no family in Canada, could live with Dr Diana Ralph and her partner Jean Hanson, who spent C$38,000 renovating their basement apartment to accommodate Hassan Almrei and offered C$10,000 in cash towards the bail amount.

Hassan Almrei was again requesting to be released to Ralph and Hanson who volunteered to coach him towards studying at the University of Toronto.

At his third application for release in 2007, Hassan Almrei was supported by two new Members of Parliament who offered to act as sureties and post bail for him, Bill Siksay and Andrew Telegdi, while McDonough again reiterated symbolic support and Trudeau again offered C$5000, while Ralph and Hanson increased their bail offer to C$60,000.

Hassan Almrei was ordered released under house arrest by Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley on January 2,2009, under strict monitoring conditions including an electronic tracking leg-bracelet.