BALTIMORE - A Canadian citizen accused of working for Saddam Hussein's intelligence service while living in Maryland was in fact persecuted by the late Iraqi leader, his lawyer told a federal judge Tuesday.
Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish, 47, a native of Iraq, is accused of providing Iraq information and lying about that work when he applied for permanent resident status in the United States.
He is charged with conspiracy to act as an agent for a foreign government and making false statements, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Documents seized by U.S. troops after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq showed Darwish was paid by Saddam's intelligence service for "assistance," according to court papers. Darwish is not charged with espionage because the information he is accused of handing over to Saddam was not classified, prosecutors said.
His public defender, Joseph L. Evans, did not address the specifics of the allegations Tuesday at a detention hearing. But Evans said Darwish and his relatives were mistreated by Saddam because of their Iranian ancestry.
Darwish and his family were deported to Iran after war erupted between Iraq and Iran in 1980, Evans said. Darwish was eventually repatriated and forced to join the Iraqi army to fight against Iran but fled the country and was granted political asylum in Canada, the lawyer told the court.
"He was put on the front lines so as to be killed," Evans said. "At that point ... he went AWL."
Evans' comments did not sway U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, who ordered Darwish detained until trial, deeming him a flight risk.
His wife and children remain in Richmond Hill, Ont., where Darwish was working at a hardware store.
"There is every reason for the defendant to leave," Bennett said.
Evans said he planned to file a motion asking Bennett to reconsider his decision to continue holding Darwish.
Darwish was arrested Dec. 24 while trying to enter the United States at Buffalo, N.Y.
