Moussa Mohamed Kalifa (موسى محمد خليفة) (born in 1967) is a Libyan citizen who was charged with being a member of the

Libyan Islamic Fighting Group The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), also known as ''Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya'' ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المقاتلة بليبيا), was an armed Islamist group. Militants participated in the 2011 Lib ...

, and accused of participating in terrorism after he attempted to move to Canada as a refugee under a false name in 2001.

Life

In 1993, Kalifa traveled to Damascus to study Islamic scholarship, but was arrested by Yemeni authorities five years later for failing to have any identification papers. He had spent two years studying at the Islamic Institute, and four years teaching children. He left Yemen for Tanzania, but was detained after the 1998 bombing of the American embassy in Tanzania and questioned for twenty days. Leaving Tanzania, Kalifa sought refugee status in Italy where he lived for approximately three years. After his four months of government-sponsored housing expired, he was homeless and lived on the streets for approximately a year, before being offered a 6-month position as an Imam at a Moroccan mosque. He then decided to try and immigrate to Canada.

Immigration to Canada

Kalifa purchased a

travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

ticket, under the false name ''El Lorrehane'' which appeared on his forged Italian passport, to take him from

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New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

.Ladouceur, Rolland.

Immigration and Refugee Board Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

Decision in between Moussa Mohamed Kalifa and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
November 5, 2001 Upon his arrival, on August 6, 2001, he introduced himself by his legitimate name to Customs officer Nathalie Hamel, requesting refugee status and stating that he had destroyed his false passport on the flight. She referred him to the Immigration officers on-site, to whom he introduced himself as Mohamed Ahmed Alhimede which they believed to be his proper name. Over the next three days he was processed, and intelligence officers became suspicious that he was in fact Kalifa, presenting him with a photograph which he denied was himself despite "a certain resemblance". Although he was traveling on a forged Italian passport, and his luggage contained Italian clothing and a business card from

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, he initially denied ever traveling to Italy; as well as Yemen, Tanzania or Germany. He later confessed to his identity and travels. He maintained that while he was a

Salafist The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generati ...

preacher, his group had no ties to the GSPC

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalifa, Moussa Mohamed 1967 births Living people Libyan revolutionaries