Former minister says some security certficate info may have come from torture

TORONTO – A former federal cabinet minister told an Ontario court today he had been warned some of the information in a security certificate used to detain accused terrorist Mohamed Mahjoub could have possibly come from torture.

Former public safety minister Stockwell Day says he signed the security certificate in February 2008 following “numerous” discussions and inquiry with intelligence and border officials.

Day says the warning about the possibility of torture came from an official at Canada’s top spy agency.

The minister, who left politics in 2011, is testifying via video from Vancouver before a Federal Court judge in Toronto.

Mahjoub, 52, was one of five men arrested under the controversial certificates – a rarely used immigration tool used to detain or deport non-Canadians who are deemed a public safety risk.

The Egyptian man has been detained or under house arrest for the past 12 years based on secret evidence but has not been charged with any criminal counts.

The Toronto father of three is accused of being a former high-ranking official of the Vanguards of Conquest, a terrorist group with ties to Osama Bin Laden.

Today’s proceedings were anticipated to shed some light on how the federal government decides when they deem someone a terrorist risk.