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OTTAWA – A former spy service employee who helped compile the case against accused terrorist Mohamed Mahjoub says he didn’t rely on information tainted by torture.

The retired Canadian Security Intelligence Service employee, known only as CSIS Witness No. 3, tells a Federal Court hearing there was nothing to suggest the information from the spy agency’s data banks was obtained through brutal methods.

Yavar Hameed, a lawyer for Mahjoub, pressed the CSIS witness on the point, asking how he could be sure the information from allied agencies was not tainted.

Hameed noted that CSIS policy at the time allowed it to use information derived through torture as long as it could be independently corroborated.

The federal government is trying to deport Mahjoub using a national security certificate, claiming he was a high-ranking member of an Islamic terrorist organization.

The witness testified by video link from Halifax, but while the public and media could hear his voice, his face was concealed from view.

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