An Iraqi-Canadian will spend New Year's Eve in jail, after a U.S. federal court judge denied his bail application for fears that the accused spy would flee the country and not be extraditable for his alleged crimes, a federal prosecutor told CTV.ca on Wednesday.
The Iraqi-born Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish, 47, of Markham, Ont., has been charged with conspiring to violate Section 951(a), of Title 18 of the United States Code, by allegedly knowingly acting as the agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General as required by law.
Darwish was arrested Dec. 24 when he attempted to cross into the United States through a border crossing in Buffalo, N.Y.
He appeared in a Buffalo court on Dec. 29 on the single charge laid against him.
Darwish could spend up to five years in prison if he is convicted.
Darwish denied bail
On Tuesday, a detention hearing was held in a federal court in Buffalo in which Darwish was denied bail.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory L. Brown told CTV.ca that Darwish's passport was one of the main reasons he was denied bail.
"The basis for which he was held was the potential risk of flight in light of the fact that he is a naturalized Canadian citizen," he told CTV.ca in a phone interview from Buffalo.
Brown said a second reason that Darwish had been denied bail was because he is charged with a criminal offence that has no equivalent in Canada.
"As such, he would not be extraditable from Canada in the event that he made bail, went to Canada and decided not to submit to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Federal Court in Maryland," said Brown.
"If that were the case, he would be out of the reach of the United States government because of the fact that this crime does not exist in Canada and therefore is not one for which he would be extraditable."
His lawyer, Kimberly Schechter, said Darwish had been travelling to the United States to visit his Maryland-area family at the time of his arrest.
"There is no indication whatsoever that my client was avoiding detection," she said.
She said her client had moved to Canada after being rejected for residency in the United States in 2006.
At present, Darwish's wife and two children are in Canada, she said.
Home Depot Canada spokesperson Tiziana Baccega confirmed to CTV.ca that Darwish worked at a Markham-area Home Depot.
Darwish was initially held at a jail in Erie County, N.Y., but has since been handed over to the custody of U.S. Marshals.
Affidavit allegations
According to an affidavit brought before Chief United States Magistrate Judge Paul W. Grimm, it is alleged that Darwish worked for a group of Iraqi diplomats -- called the Iraqi Interests Section (ISEC) -- between 2000 and 2004.
ISEC opened in Washington in 1991 and operated out of the city's Algerian Embassy until the Iraqi Embassy was reopened between December 2003 and January 2004.
The affidavit, as prepared by FBI special agent Donald E. Lichay, says that Darwish's name was found in "various confidential documents generated by the IIS (Iraqi Intelligence Service)" that the U.S. obtained after invading Iraq in 2003.
These documents indicated, among other things, that Darwish was paid to provide "assistance" to the IIS in Washington in 2000; that he provided information to the Iraqi government about the training of Iraqi volunteers in the U.S. military in August 2002; and that he was listed as an ISEC employee of as of June 2002.
The affidavit indicates that the FBI has built its case with the help of a confidential source who allegedly has knowledge of Darwish's employment in the United States between March 2000 and April 2004.
According to the confidential source, Darwish was paid US$1,500 per month to work as a driver as well as an assistant to an accountant for ISEC, during this time period.
The confidential source alleges Darwish found a cover job as a cook in Laurel, Md., during this time period.
The source also alleged that Darwish attended various gatherings that the IIS used to recruit new members. The FBI says it has obtained a videotape of Darwish attending one of these parties in 1998.
Darwish also "worked closely with the Chief of the ISEC and known IIS officials at the ISEC," the source says.
Between December 2003 and the spring of 2004, the affidavit says that Darwish got a job at the newly opened Iraqi embassy and agreed to destroy sensitive documents on behalf of another co-conspirator who wished to hide his or her ISEC ties.
These details have been confirmed by recorded conversations obtained by FBI investigators, the affidavit says.
Darwish later learned that these same files had been destroyed by other co-conspirators "in an effort to conceal the activities of Ba'ath Party members in the United States and Iraq," the affidavit says.
He later relayed information about the activities of the Iraqi ambassador and Iraq's interim government to these same co-conspirators, the affidavit alleges.
In May 2003, Darwish was interviewed by FBI agents and he told them he had done "odd jobs" for ISEC only in late 2001.
Some of these jobs included cutting the lawn, running errands and doing some accounting work. He said he made between $200 and $300 per week, and was paid at irregular intervals.
Darwish told the agents his ISEC work was not full-time and that he worked 14 hours a day at the restaurant in Laurel.
Darwish's background
The affidavit states that Darwish filed for permanent U.S. residency in October 2001.
In August 2006, his application was later denied for "discrepancies in information" regarding his residence and employment.
A year later, Darwish's mother, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, filed a petition on her son's behalf that has not been granted, the affidavit says.
With files from The Associated Press
