A repairer who says he was forced to oversee work done on vehicles used by ISIS fighters may face deportation from Canada.
Most working repair professionals today can choose when to end business with a client. Boutros Massroua claims he did not have that choice.
Massroua was an auto repaired working Zahlé, Lebanon. According to him, a customer approached him one day, asking if he was able to repair vehicles almost an hour away. Once he agreed, Massroua was transported at night to a secured hangar, where he found 15 to 20 vehicles modified for combat. He said that during his first night on the job, he knew he was working for ISIS.
The 54-year-old man, now living in Vancouver, is facing claims from the Canadian government that he was complicit in ISIS war crimes. The Refugee Appeal Division linked Massroua’s technician work with the terrorist group’s effort, stating that the maintaining of their vehicle transports was “vital to the success of ISIS.”
“While ISIS had its own mechanics, he was needed to fix vehicles with problematic issues that no one else could repair,” the Refugee Appeal Division wrote. “He also supervised other mechanics and gave instruction on how to repair the vehicles which were used for military purposes.”
Massroua claims that once he found out who he was working for, it was already too late. When he refused to show up, armed men would visit his home to extort more work from him. He continued to repair ISIS vehicles for months in 2015, being brought across the border into Syria three times. According to the refugee board of Canada, Massroua returned four to six more times to continue repairs on the battle vehicles.
Michal Fox, a member of the board refuted the claims, writing “if it weren’t for the principal claimant’s work on these armed vehicles, these vehicles would not be returning to Syria with guns on top of them — to shoot unarmed women, children, men of every religion, to blow up buildings.”
Boutros Massroua has been denied refugee status, and it remains unclear whether he will face deportation.
