A man arrested for his close links to Osama Bin Laden has asked to be allowed back into jail after his Wii was confiscated.
Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub, who is of Egyptian descent, was arrested in 2000 by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service under a ‘security certificate’ after fears were raised concerning his links with militant organizations in the Middle East and Africa, as well as his role as a deputy general manager of a farm owned by Osama Bin laden.
Canadian authorities were unable to deport him, due to the risk of him being tortured by other governments, and so instead detained him in an Ottawa prison dubbed ‘Guantanamo North’ for over six years. A judge ordered him released in 2007 and he was subsequently granted bail under strict house arrest conditions. After 18 months of almost constant surveillance, Mr. Mahjoub has asked to be returned to prison.
Why? Well, in part, because Canadian authorities have confiscated his family’s Wii. As part of his bail conditions, Mr Mahjoub are prohibited from making any use of the internet, meaing that the Wii, which has a built-in web browser, had to go. Mr Mahjoub cites this, and the other conditions of his house arrest, as having a detrimental effect on his family, and so asked to be returned to prison. This request was denied, ironically because he had never been charged with any crime.
In an interview last year, Mr Mahjoub’s wife had this to say about the house arrest: “He’s feeling his children are getting punished, (and he said) ‘they are not putting me only in jail, they are putting all of you in jail.”
Source: Game Politics
Published: Mar 22, 2009 05:04 pm