Posted on 08/31/2007 9:42:48 PM PDT by mdittmar
MONTREAL -- After serving nearly four years in an Israeli prison for crimes he says he didn’t commit, Jamal Akkal landed on Canadian soil Friday morning.
The 27-year-old Canadian citizen, who was born in Gaza but lived in Windsor, Ont., pleaded guilty in 2004 to receiving paramilitary training and conspiracy to commit manslaughter, but maintains his innocence. He says his confession was attained under duress.
Akkal was released to family members in Gaza on Wednesday.
His Royal Jordanian flight from Amman, Jordan landed at Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport at 7:30 a.m. Friday, but he did not exit to the arrivals area.
Several passengers, however, confirmed he had been on the flight.
“I saw him,” said a student, 17, who was travelling on the same flight and identified Akkal from a photograph.
“All of the customs (checkpoints) had a sign that said ‘Welcome to Canada’ except for the one on the far right. He was escorted through (those) doors,” he explained.
Neither the RCMP nor the Canadian Border Services Agency have any information on Akkal’s return to Canada, and say they did not make any arrests that morning at the airport in Dorval.
“We are not aware of any arrests,” said Sandra Duchesne of the CBSA. “The CBSA doesn’t prevent any person from coming into his or her country unless there’s a warrant.”
In 2005, the second secretary of the Israeli embassy in Ottawa, Ofir Gendelman, said Akkal was angered because a cousin had been killed by Israeli troops. Akkal came into contact with a Hamas official who urged him not to grieve but to get revenge. He was later trained to fire a gun in preparation for an assassination in North America, Gendelman said.
According to the Israelis, Akkal was to get a gun from a gang in Detroit, smuggle it into Canada and use it to shoot an Israeli VIP identified through the media.
Akkal, a Canadian citizen, has repeatedly professed his innocence, claiming he was coerced into signing a statement of guilt written in Hebrew, which he cannot read.
Akkal had lived in Canada since 1999 and returned to Gaza in 2003 to visit relatives and search for a wife.
He claimed through his Palestinian lawyer that during his prison term he had been beaten and subjected to sleep deprivation.
Akkal’s family said he would return to Windsor.
Windsor. That wouldn’t be anywhere near Detroit, would it?
/s
Poor misunderstood little diddums..
ping
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