Canada: Muslims say CSIS has spies in many mosques (Mosquewatch alert)

TORONTO - Canada’s police and intelligence agencies, through their use of paid Muslim informants, effectively have spies in virtually every major mosque in Toronto, according to well-connected members of the Muslim community.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service does not deny operating inside Muslim religious institutions, but insists that it hires informants to report on people, not places.

Those knowledgeable about mosques and the tactics of security services say it often amounts to the same thing.

“If they’re following certain people, an imam for example, and that imam is spending a lot of time at the mosque, then [the informant] is also spending a lot of time at the mosque,” even though they’re not specifically instructed to, said Yahya Fadalla, a Hamilton-based imam. Besides his religious education, Mr. Fadalla has a doctorate in computer science with a specialization in cyberterrorism and information warfare. Related to this article

Spying within the Muslim community appears to be far more widespread than previously thought. In fact, one prominent Toronto imam claims Fahim Ahmad, who has been characterized as a leader among the 17 individuals charged with terror-related offences in June, was himself once offered the opportunity to become a paid informant.

The issue has taken on greater prominence since Mubin Shaikh, a CSIS and RCMP informant, publicly disclosed he played an integral part in that investigation.

Mr. Shaikh said it’s a given that intelligence authorities have many informants within the community.

“If [intelligence authorities] want to do anything, it has to be done through the Muslims,” he said in an interview. “Of course they’re going to have eyes and ears everywhere.”

original article here

Mosquewatching indeed. Well done Canada, one can only HOPE the U.S.A. is doing the same.