Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 29, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A11 winnipegfreepress. com CANADA / WORLD WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 A 11 AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan said Wednesday it was prepared to swap a prisoner sentenced to death for her role in a string of 2005 Amman hotel bombings for a Jordanian pilot who was captured by Islamic State fighters. But the exchange appeared to hit an obstacle later in the day, and an audio recording was released threatening to kill the pilot. Jordan's sensational offer to free the suicide bomber, an Iraqi whose device failed to explode, illustrates the tremendous pressure Jordan's King Abdullah II and his government have faced over the pilot's capture in Syria last month. An exchange of prisoners would be a first for the Islamic State, which has beheaded a number of captives, including U. S. and other western journalists and aid workers. Previously, the group had reportedly released European captives in exchange for ransom. The offer could undermine the U. S.- led coalition fighting the Islamic State by encouraging more hostage- taking. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. Late Wednesday, an audio recording was issued threatening to kill the pilot, Lt. Muath al- Kaseasbeh, unless the would- be suicide bomber, Sajida al- Rishawi, was presented at the Turkish border today, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. It said Twitter accounts linked to the Islamic State had distributed the message, which was attributed to a Japanese hostage believed held by the same people who have the Jordanian pilot. " I'm Kenji Goto Jogo. This is a voice message I've been told to send to you," said the man in the recording. If Rishawi wasn't ready to be exchanged for him at the border by sunset today, he said, the Jordanian " will be killed immediately." Jordan's information minister, Mohammad al- Momani, said earlier his government was ready to release Rishawi if the pilot was freed unharmed. Later Wednesday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh tweeted: " We asked for evidence about the health and safety of our hero, but it did not come." Judeh told CNN's Christiane Amanpour the negotiations were going on " perhaps through indirect channels." Jordan is part of the U. S.- led coalition seeking to turn back the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The Jordanian public, however, has been outraged over the capture of the pilot. They have criticized Jordan's participation in the war against the militants. The U. S. government has vigorously opposed paying ransom for kidnap victims held by the Islamic State. Asked about the Jordan case, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday " We don't make concessions to terrorists." But she added " Every country has the ability and the right to make decisions" within the bounds of international law. The announcement Jordan was open to a deal came less than a day after the Islamic State issued a 24- hour ultimatum, threatening to execute Kaseasbeh and the Japanese hostage. Jordan has long rejected negotiating with militant groups. Rishawi is on death row for her involvement in suicide bombings against three Amman hotels in 2005. More than 60 people were killed in the attacks. Rishawi was captured after a suicide belt she wore failed to detonate during an attack on the Radisson Hotel in Amman. The attacks were masterminded by the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, whose group, al- Qaida in Iraq, was the ideological and organizational precursor to the Islamic State. - Washington Post WATERFIGHT VIDEO AT - 40 The whole story... AND MORE Use Blippar. There's more to the story above embedded in this page. OTTAWA - Canada's electronic spy agency is defending its role in the search for extremists following a report that says it sifts through millions of videos and documents downloaded globally every day through file- sharing services. Details of the Communications Security Establishment project, called Levitation, are revealed in a 2012 PowerPoint presentation obtained by former U. S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, CBC News says. CBC analyzed the document along with U. S. news website the Intercept, which obtained it from Snowden. It also posted the presentation online, with some of the information blacked out. The Ottawa- based CSE employs mathematicians, codebreakers, linguists and software experts with the aim of collecting foreign secrets and shielding Canada's confidences from prying eyes. The document says that under Levitation, CSE analysts can access information on about 10 to 15 million uploads and downloads of files from free websites each day. Extremists generally use free file- uploading sites to distribute training materials, while al- Qaida uses them to spread jihadist propaganda, the document says. It notes CSE finds about 350 " interesting download events" per month, citing one on how to make a gas bomb. The document also makes a lighthearted reference to filtering out episodes of the television show Glee with a schematic of how its supercomputers track down the small number of files of concern. One privacy advocate expressed alarm at the CBC report. " CSE is clearly spying on the private online activities of millions of innocent people, including Canadians, despite repeated government assurances to the contrary," said OpenMedia. ca spokesman David Christopher. " Law- abiding Internet users who use popular file- hosting services are now finding themselves under the government's microscope." CSE stood by its methods, saying they have helped fight terrorism. " CSE's foreign- signals intelligence has played a vital role in uncovering foreign- based extremists' efforts to attract, radicalize, and train individuals to carry out attacks in Canada and abroad," agency spokesman Ryan Foreman said in an emailed statement Wednesday. Foreman noted CSE is legally authorized to collect and analyze metadata - data trails about messages and calls, though not the actual content. Privacy advocates have stressed metadata is far from innocuous, as it can reveal much about a person's online behaviour. CSE said it takes strict measures to protect the privacy of Canadians when it comes across their information. " In collecting and analyzing metadata, CSE does not direct its activities at Canadians or anyone in Canada, and, in accordance with our legislation, has a range of measures in place to protect the privacy of Canadians incidentally encountered in the course of these foreign intelligence operations," the statement said. The agency said it could not comment further on " operations, methods or capabilities," as that would constitute a breach of the federal secrets law. " Furthermore, we regret that the publication of techniques and methods, based on stolen documents, renders those techniques and methods less effective when addressing threats to Canada and Canadians." In the House of Commons, New Democrat MP Elaine Michaud said the number of downloads inspected daily " seems enormous." " How can the government ensure that it's protecting Canadians' safety while at the same time respecting their right to privacy?" Associate defence minister Julian Fantino responded by saying the watchdog over CSE has found its actions to be lawful. Still, the NDP and Liberals called for stronger oversight of intelligence activities. " That's something that the Liberal party's been calling for for a long time," said Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. A recent survey done for the federal privacy commissioner's office found 89 per cent of respondents who had heard something about government surveillance activities agreed security agencies should have to explain their activities to Canadians. " Canadians expressed varying levels of comfort with different ways in which government departments and agencies, including intelligence- gathering organizations, could collect or share their personal information," says an accompanying analysis released Wednesday. Canadians were least likely to be comfortable with the government requesting telecommunications companies to provide personal information they hold about people without a warrant. Fifty- seven per cent said they were not comfortable with warrantless information requests. The December 2014 survey, which polled some 1,519 respondents between Oct. 21 and Nov. 10, is considered accurate to within 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. - The Canadian Press SCAN PAGE TO SEE VIDEO Data hunt ' vital,' spy agency says By Jim Bronskill V ANCOUVER - The mother of a woman whose DNA was found on Robert Pickton's property says the serial killer should be charged with murder, arguing human remains returned to her represent new evidence. Michele Pineault said an official with the B. C. Coroners Service met with her last September and gave her fragments from two vertebrae belonging to her daughter, Stephanie Lane, who was 20 when she vanished in January 1997. Lane is among six women whose DNA was found on Pickton's farm but whose cases did not result in any charges. Pineault said prosecutors told her at the time Lane's DNA was found in a freezer, which wasn't enough to proceed with charges. She said she was never told about the bone fragments' existence. " I was told that... if there had been more ( than DNA), it would have been enough to charge him," Pineault hold a news conference in Vancouver, holding a pair of small plastic bags containing her daughter's remains. " I want Robert Pickton charged with my daughter's murder." The B. C. Coroners Service said in a statement the remains were known to police during the original investigation and " do not represent new evidence." Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie said prosecutors also knew about Lane's remains when they made their decisions about charges. He repeated the criminal justice branch's longstanding position that Pickton will not be prosecuted for additional murder charges. Pickton was arrested in 2002, setting off an exhaustive search for human remains on his farm in Port Coquitlam, east of Vancouver. Investigators found the remains or DNA of 33 women. Pickton was eventually convicted of six counts of second- degree murder, and prosecutors then stayed another 20 murder charges because the serial killer had already received the maximum sentence under the law. A 27th murder charge involving a woman referred to only as Jane Doe, whose remains were found on the property, was dropped. No charges were ever laid in the deaths of six other women, including Lane, whose remains or DNA were found on the farm. Pineault said getting her daughter's remains opened up painful wounds. " I have no words," said Pineault, who was wearing a shirt emblazoned with a photo of Lane. " They told me that she was very safe in a storage locker. She should have been at home years and years and years ago." RCMP said in a statement the police force turned over the victims' remains following the Supreme Court of Canada decision in 2010 upholding Pickton's conviction. The coroners service said it could not explain why Lane's remains were not returned as soon as the agency received them from the RCMP. " The B. C. Coroners Service has apologized to the family of Ms. Lane, and does continue to extend its sincere apologies for any further stress caused them by the delay," the statement said. The province's attorney general, Suzanne Anton, said in a written statement the current chief coroner has implemented " safeguards to prevent similar instances." Pineault said Lane had a son, who was just eight months old when his mother vanished. " She was very exuberant, happy," Pineault said. - The Canadian Press Charge Pickton: mother By James Keller SCAN PAGE TO SEE VIDEO Officials say daughter's remains not ' new evidence' By Taylor Luck and William Booth Jordan's interest in prisoner swap a policy reversal SCAN PAGE TO SEE VIDEO DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS Michele Pineault ( right) is comforted by Lorelei Williams during a prayer for Pineault's daughter Stephanie Lane. A_ 11_ Jan- 29- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A11 1/ 28/ 15 9: 44: 22 PM ;